


The Signing

by Rockers4Ever



Category: Marty Jannetty - Fandom, Shawn Michaels - Fandom, The Rockers, WWE WWF, wrestling - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Wrestling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 16:54:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12136914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rockers4Ever/pseuds/Rockers4Ever
Summary: When Vince decided to force bitter enemies, the former tag team of The Rockers, into an autograph signing together, he never imagined the outcome.Neither did Shawn Michaels or Marty Jannetty.If your looking for smut, you wont find it here. Although I enjoy, the same as the next person, a steamy and hot story involving two hot guys, this isn't that story. This is a comical romantic story of a love once lost. A story about a love that was meant to be.Comments, even if you hate the story, are always welcome. I don't mind criticism, and even enjoy it. Its interesting to see what others think.





	1. The Battle Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Not yet done with this one. Quite a bit more to come!

Shawn grimaced as he took his seat at the long conference table. Before him lay about a thousand, eight by ten photos of himself and his one time partner, Marty Jannetty. He hated autograph signings. They took forever and when the fans always talked, they managed to rain microscopic beads of spit on his face. They smelled, too. Well, most of them did and it was always the ones who paid extra for a photo of them taken together that reeked the most. Shawn could almost smell them now as he thought about it. They would wrap their arms around Shawn, allowing their body odor to waft into Shawn's nose. Someone always had a sweaty arm too. They would drape their arm around the back of his freshly showered neck and their perspiration would soak into his skin. He shivered at the grotesque thought. And he just knew that there would be at least one in the crowd, most likely more, that wanted to ask fifty questions.  
The blonde glanced to his right where even more photos lay in a pile. They were for his ex partner to sign. Shawn seethed at Vince's brilliant idea to have The Rockers sign together at the WrestleMania preshow.  
"For four hours Shawn, I want the two of you to behave and act civil towards one another." The look the boss gave the blonde told him there was no room for arguing.  
Shawn leaned over and with his sharpie, drew a bugger coming out of Marty's nose on the first few photos on the top of the stack. He chuckled to himself and turned the other way when he saw Marty walk into the room. He would have colored a couple of his teeth in, giving the appearance Marty had rotten teeth, but Marty smiled with sealed lips making this attempt impossible.  
Shawn noticed Marty didn't so much as look at him when he took his seat less than two feet away. He saw Marty reach for a sharpie but Shawn had prepared for this moments before defacing his photos and stuck them all in his pocket, keeping only one out for himself which he held firmly in his hand. Marty frowned and rose to seek out a few sharpies for himself. Shawn hoped he wouldn't find any. While he was gone Shawn flipped through more photos, randomly drawing on his face, adding zits, moles that dangled off his chin and even a hairy wart on the end of his nose. He got maybe ten done by the time Marty returned, thankfully not seeing what he had done.  
Shawn shook his head when Marty again took his seat, showing his irritation at having to sit next to him. Marty ignored the silent jab and proceeded on with tidying up his area. He set his water bottle to his right and arranged his sharpies that had not been stolen by Shawn to his left. He pulled about fifty of the photos off the top and carefully shoved the rest next to his water. He then glanced at his watch and turned to talk to Curt who had pulled up a seat.  
Shawn observed his own unorganized space and decided to do some reorganizing of his own. Marty was always the neater of the two and Shawn wasn't going to be seen as untidy in front of the fans. He roughly shoved his own stack of photos to the right several inches, cutting Marty's space nearly in half. The sharpies that he had more of he laid to his left, well out of Marty's reach. He had no intention on sharing them. In fact, he greatly hoped Marty's sharpies would run out of ink when the flood of mutants came for their five seconds with the star. As he saw it, the only star was Shawn Michaels. This would leave Marty unable to complete the signing. Shawn prayed those markers would be defective. He could always just mention to Vince that Marty simply didn't want to sign, and the defective markers were just an excuse.  
Shawn didnt have a water bottle or beverage of any kind but he did pull about the same amount of photos off the top of the stack and laid them in front of himself, also preparing for the first fifty or so commoners that would oafishly spray him with spittle.  
His eyes narrowed with contempt when the crowd of buffoons gathered at the door clutching their programs and scheduals. A fat woman was front and center, her large stomach pressing on the plastic chain that kept them at bay. He watched the chain become buried between the two rolls of fat that surrounded her girth. She didn't seem to notice. What she did notice though was the man midway through the room she was not yet granted permission to walk into, who was setting up a refreshment stand. She eyed the brats, hamburgers and dogs that sizzled on the grill and rolled over and over on the hot dog cooker. Shawn watched her lick her plump lips in anticipation. Her oversized arm raised and she began to wave and gesture at the security man. The flesh on her arm wasn't flesh at all. It was a dimpled congregation of cellulite that flapped against the air and the thin man's cheek who stood next to her as she waved. Shawn could hear the slapping noise it made. He cringed, thankful it wasn't his cheek that the meaty subcutaneous fat touched. Shawn thought of his mother who always fed the birds. They could feed off of this woman for months and not come close to polishing off her suet.  
"I'd like some sausages! Sir! Mister! Bring me some sausages! I have..." the woman's rotund fingers dug inside her handbag, which was covered in fat cats who all ate ice cream desserts, withdrawing a wad of cash. "I'd like sausages! I'm feeling rather faint! I haven't eaten in..."  
"Lady... whatever you do... don't faint on me!" A petrified man behind her tried to back off, but was prevented from doing so by the infestation of people behind him. They moved like maggots on a decomposing carcass. He was a thin man, maybe a hundred and twenty pounds. The pimples on his face were clearly visable to Shawn even from across the room. They looked like they would burst from pressure at any moment. Shawn pulled a small mirror from his bag and inspected his own face. No pimples. Not a blemish. He tilted his head right, then left, then looking at himself dead on. Grinning at his own reflection he caught sight of Bret Hart, who was staring at him with a look of disgust, his lip curled involuntarily with revulsion. Bret shook his head. What kind of man carries a mirror around with him. Shawn saw he mumbled something to himself but it was so low Shawn couldn't hear it. "He's jealous" Shawn thought to himself, stuffing the mirror back into his bag, content with himself.  
"Elephants aren't allowed, this isn't a zoo lady!" A short man in his forties struggled to free himself from being trapped between the bovine and the hippo that joined her.  
"They gotta be sisters." Shawn chuckled, taking in the sight.  
"For God's sake! You're stepping on me and breaking my foot!" His eyes pleaded for mercy and someone to get involved and give him a hand. "I'm being stampeded by a heard of buffalo! Do something!" The man's eyes fell to the security guard who took notice of the situation and came to do nothing.  
The round sisters cooed at the guard, and praised his work, agreeing how they loved a man in uniform. The guard looked unimpressed and somewhat threatened. His fear quickly subsided when it dawned on him they were only after his permission to earlier access to the burger stand.  
Marty continued to chatter to Curt as Shawn listened in. He didn't know much about Marty's life now and was interested. Not because he cared about Marty's life. He didn't. Not one little bit. But he listened anyway, pretending not too. If Marty knew he was eavesdropping, he would probably take it as interest in him and fall at his feet, begging him to take him back.  
Well he wouldn't! Not a chance in hell of that ever happening! Marty could just wish to himself for that. Because it was never going to happen and that was that!  
When Curt stood and replaced the metal chair to where he found it from, the next table over, walking away to his own table on the other side of the room, Marty once again turned to his own area, only to find it much smaller than how he had left it. This new arrangement barely left room for him to sign anything. Shawn's stack of photos were shoved where his left arm would rest.  
Marty glanced over to Shawn who busied himself with his mirror again. He pulled his hair over his shoulder, fluffing it, brushed it back, deciding the fans couldnt see his blonde locks well enough, and pulled it forward again.  
With a move of distain and low patience, Marty used his elbow to push the stack back into the area they were supposed to be in, laying his arm down before Shawn could retaliate.  
Shawn noticed, but pretended not too, even though the shove made the photos fan out in the most unorganized fashion. Marty wasnt going to get the satisfaction or the glee to know he was once again given the same amount of space as any commoner would be given.  
"But I'm hungry!" whaled the monstrous beast. "And so is my sister, we haven't eaten in so long. Can't you just let us through so we can get some sausages?"  
Shawn was repulsed by the women's referral to the hot dogs as sausages. he didnt know why, but he didn't approve of it. He chuckled to himself at their misery and hunger.  
"Let them through so I can breathe!" wheezed the skinny man. He had given up hope long ago about ever breathing fresh air again or taking in a long deep breath. He resorted to small short breaths only when the moo moo clad women would bend forward slightly to catch the aroma of the meat cooking.  
"Two minutes" the guard spoke loudly so the crowd in the back could hear.  
Most people grumbled about what harm would it do to open up early. It was only two minutes anyways.  
The wrestlers who mingled took their seats and Marty pulled the cap off his sharpie in preparation for the crowd.  
Shawn reached in his bag again for his water. His hand dug and dug in the darkness, bumping against his clothing, his cell phone, his charger, various other items, but no water was felt. Then he remembered. He left it in the mini fridge of his hotel room.  
"Fuck" he said to himself, watching Marty tip his own bottle of water to his lips. He took a quick drink, replaced the cap and set it to his side again. Shawn's mouth felt dry.  
Two years ago he wouldn't have thought anything about just reaching over and taking a drink from his partner's bottle. They swapped enough spit and other fluids to not mind about drinking from the same bottle. But now... Marty would probably crack him upside the skull if he tried. And Shawn didnt want to drink from Marty's bottle anyway. He would probably catch something. Cooties. Lice. Mites. Rabies! Scabies! Shawn decided he wasn't that thirsty and could wait until they were given a break.  
But that was four hours away.  
Marty probably brought his water knowing Shawn would forget his! He hated Marty even more than he had seconds earlier. Marty was just being cruel now. Flaunting his water in front of a dehydrating and parched man.  
The guard lifted the chain and quickly jumped out of the way as the herd of mongaloids flooded into the room. Shawn's eyes stayed with the obese sisters who plodded as fast as they could on stubby legs to the refreshment stand. Meaty hands grabbed chip bags, as they ordered sausages and burgers with nacho chasers, much more than any two people should ever consume. Cheese dribbled down on one sister's hand from the plastic flimsy container. She licked it off than shoved a chip in her large gapping expectant mouth. Excess cheese clung from her chin and stained her t-shirt. It had cats on it.  
The other sister daintily stuck her plush pinky finger in the air as she shoved three quarters of a dog in her mouth. She began to chew but the pork must have become lodged in her throat because she reached, with her free hand, not letting go of her much needed feeding, to her throat, her eyes filled with a gripping fear. Her body silently moved mechanically, convulsing, the way one would if oxygen was not available. The other sister, noticing this, took a bite of her burger and thwacked her on the back, looking at her quizzically. She continued to wolf down the first of many sandwiches she bought as she beat her sister's back like a drum.  
"Are you alright? Want me to hold your nachos?" She didn't wait for an answer, instead clutching the cheese and chips, helping herself to the snack between thumping her sister. Despite the struggle to breathe, the choking sister resisted giving up her nachos.  
"I'm fine, I'm fine," the fat woman tapped her own chest. Her breasts were cone shaped forms of blubbered margarine that sagged to the largest tire on her belly.  
"Dude, ya gonna sign it or what?"  
Shawn broke free of the fatty scene only to find a man standing in front of him, rushing him along. He didn't want Shawn's autograph. He was a collector and would list his signature on EBay.  
"Don't put a name dude, just sign it" the man glanced to his watch than at the surrounding tables, snapping his fingers to rush him along. He stood, rolling his eyes, figuring at Shawn's pace, he would be here hours.  
Shawn scribbled his name on the photo in his worse penmanship and slide it across the table to the man.  
Marty, saying nothing, flipped through the top photos, discarding the ones Shawn had graffitied, laying them upside down on the floor next to him.  
Shawn signed multiple autographs when Marty took another drink of his water. The bottle, cold as it was, formed condensation on the outside. Marty, from the corner of his eye, happened to notice Shawn watching the water tilt inside the bottle, realizing he was thirsty.  
"Ahhh!" Marty sighed. Smiling to himself at the refreshing feel of his thirst being satisfied. Before setting it down, closer to Shawn this time so temptation would be stronger, swished it around a bit, giving Shawn the full effect with sound. He reached up, scratching quickly at his forehead, feeling the small scars that had been left after Shawn threw him through the barber shop window. Any feelings of guilt or shame Marty had for taunting the man next to him were quickly gone.  
"Can I get a wat..." Shawn raised his arm at the promoter who rushed a box of sharpies to another table, ignoring Shawn's cry for water.  
The defective markers Shawn had wished for apparently landed on another table.  
Marty chuckled at the fact Shawn wasn't heard.  
Shawn glared at Marty who continued to smile to himself as he took another drink. He kept the bottle in the air, an inch away from his lips after drinking, before setting the bottle down again, letting out another "ahhhhhhhh!" This ah was more pronounced than his first.  
Shawn gritted his teeth and told himself he wasn't thirsty. Marty was a cruel and spiteful person to do this to him, Shawn simmered. He signed another autograph growing more and more desperate for water. His mouth felt like a desert. He could feel his tongue crack from dryness.  
"Hey Mario, you think I could get another water please?" Marty held up his nearly empty bottle and thanked the promoter on his second time past their table.  
"Sure thing" the man said.  
"Get me one too while your at it!" Shawn barked rudely. "I'm parched!"  
When the promoter set a cold bottle down in front of Marty he made eye contact with Michaels. "Get your own" he said back. "I ain't nobody's bitch boy, Michaels."  
Shawn sunk a little in his chair. He could feel Marty's smile spread across his beautiful....UGLY face, Shawn corrected himself. His ugly, scarred face.  
"Ice Mountain Sparkling Water" Marty read aloud from the label, knowingly luring Shawn into retaliation.  
Shawn leaned over Marty's arm and scrawled, "fuck you" before Marty chased away his hand.  
At that moment Shawn saw the sisters in line standing before Marty. He greeted them politely and asked their names. The first sister was Dot. The second was Bertha. He handed each their memorabilia and took a quick uneventful photo with them. They hadn't paid extra for the camera shot, but Marty was gracious enough to do it anyway. Marty's opinion of his fans always greatly differed from Shawn's. They thanked him and proceeded on clumsily to Shawn.  
"Sign this please... to your girlfriend Dot, with love." Dot's breath about knocked Shawn over. The cheese on her breath had begun to curdle.  
"Mine too, sexy boy." Bertha leaned over the table. "Can we get a picture with you as well?"  
Shawn froze. When the squab had said "picture" a bit of hot dog casing flew from her mouth and landed on the back of Shawn's hand.


	2. The Chewed Pork And Marty's Water

"Ehhhgh!" Shawns chair screeched backwards as he jumped from his seat, flinging his hand repeatedly until he was sure the bits of uneaten pork was off.   
"You spit pork on me!" Shawn was mortified. He looked to the woman for some sign of apology, not that it would make up for the damage done, but it would lend comfort. There would be accountability in his mind. There was none. The woman looked astounded and shocked as Shawn raised his soiled hand to show her. "Right on my hand! You spit hot chewed hot dog right on my hand! God!" Shawn's face was red as a tomato. The veins on his neck and forehead sprung forward with anger and contempt.  
Next to him sat a very amused Marty. He laughed, with no attempt to hide it.   
"Want some relish with that?" He quipped.  
"Shut up, Marty!" Shawn hissed back at him. "I'm damaged goods here!" He stared down at Marty as if expecting the dark haired man to argue or console him.  
Marty stopped laughing only long enough to tell the blonde that he has been damaged goods from the time he was born. He than drank more of his water.  
"Gimme that!" Shawn jabbed his finger in the direction of the water bottle. "I need to wash this shit off my hand! Gimme it!"   
Marty considered this momentarily, than placed the cap back on and smiled at Shawn.   
"Nope." He stated matter of factly.  
Shawn was insensed. He reached for the bottle even without permission. With one motion, graceful and fluent, Marty moved it beyond his reach, but Shawn refused to give up. In Martys hand lay salvation, to not only his thirst, but his unsanitary hand as well.  
"You give me that bottle Marty, Im not fooling around!" Shawn again swung for possession and again Marty avoided giving up the property, only this time he did stand and take a few steps away from Michaels, bringing both of them to the edge of the table. They were now the spectacle of the entire room. Heads turned, chatter quieted, and eyes widened.  
The bowls of jelly clung to eachother with fright and enthusiasm. They may see a match right here in front of them, and they would have front row seats to it. Dot nudged her sister in her whopper like arm, encouraging her to take a few shots with her camera.  
"I said give it to me, God damn it! You have that whole bottle, and what have i got? This!" Shawn showed his hand to an unimpressed, unsympathetic, and unmoved Marty.   
"Lick it clean, Heartbreak Kid, lick it clean!" Marty could barely stand straight he was laughing so hard.  
"Im warning you Marty!" Shawn was nearly in tears with frusteration. The gawky gallon of lard that couldn't keep her food in her mouth had pushed Shawn over his limit, and now her gob of lard sister was taking pictures of his breakdown. He once again lunged for the drink and Marty again dodged him, sending Shawn forward to the floor. His body sprawled out on his stomach in a pathetic way at Marty's feet.  
Motionless, Shawn lay there, staring up at two grotesquly packaged dumplings in cotton. He peered upwards not realizing what he was seeing at first. His mind was blanking it out. It had too. The trauma would be too severe of an impact if it took it in all at once.   
Had he struck his head on the way down maybe? Was he hallousanting?   
Marty stood just as motionless over Shawn, peering down at him, waiting.  
Thats when it struck Shawn. He was looking up the dresses at the white versions of Aunt Jemimah and he was faced with their fat rolls covered by their underwear.   
"Uhhgg" the quiet groan for mercy came from Shawns throat, but it was really coming from his soul. He had seen the abyss and wanted to see no more. The bulges seemed to ripple and both women bent over at the puffed pussly satchels.   
The women scrambled to help Shawn to his feet. Marty had no choice but to step back or be smooshed.   
Once again on his feet, Shawn stood before the watching crowd of onlookers and brushed himself off, giving a mortified look to the horses next to him. He knew what was under their moo moos and he didnt like for one second what he was exposed too.  
"Now that your up, will you take a picture with us?"   
Shawn opened his mouth to object to this, after all, they didnt pay for a group photo, but there was his former partner, best friend, and lover, quick as lightning to respond.  
"Ill pay for it, Ladies!" Knowing Shawn well enough to know he would refuse an unpaid photo session, Marty reached into his billfold and pulled out a fifty, handing it to one of the promoters who creeped by to get a closer look at the commotion.   
"Go ahead and sit on his lap girls, get in real close so the photographer can fit, I mean, get a close up of you all." Marty corrected himself and snickered as a still shell shocked Shawn reluctantly took his seat on his chair. He had to pull it from behind the table and to the side, or the women would have gotten stuck, wedged between the wall behind them and the table. With horror, Shawn watched Dot loom close, and sink to Shawns lap, wrapping her crisco like arm around him, sweat and all. Shawn could feel the salty beads connect the two and drip off his arm to the floor. Never before had he been near someone that sweaty, not even in the ring after a long match.  
Marty had to turn away or the loblolly Dot would have seen him cracking up.   
Once somewhat composed, he turned around to see Shawn disappear as Birtha took her seat on the young mans other knee. Marty could only see Shawns panic stricken eyes peering desperatly over the lummoxes round shoulders. He was sure he heard Shawns air escape him as he was deflated beneath them. The women pinched his cheeks and groped him, probley the only man they had ever molested in their lives. It was the first time Marty had not felt jealousy while watching Shawn being touched by someone else. since their breakup, and shortly prior, Shawn had made an effort of showing Marty just how easily he could be replaced. My God, Marty thought. I'm still in love with him, as his smile faded. It was quickly replaced with another smile though as he glanced over to see Curt and Bret getting their own photos of the scene.  
"Give him a kiss, ladies" Marty coaxed, making matters worse.   
The women mashed their lips against each of Shawns cheeks squishing his face, making him look like a fish. After the double smooch, Shawn was ready to throw himself off a tall bridge, but Dot was just warming up. She grabbed Shawns face and pulled it to her own, smashing her mouth into his.   
"Bluuuugh!" Shawn said as soon as her suction cup mouth was pushed away. He swiped and pawed at his face to remove any saliva that may have been left behind. The ogres dragged their gargantuan bodies off his lap, Dot pushing off conviently with her hand on his groin. Marty cringed at how this must have been painful. A groin just wasnt built to take that kind of punishment.  
Shawn would have stood to regain his space but his flattened lower half didnt allow it. He sat like molten lava oozing into the chair.   
"Ffffffuck you Marty....fuck you." Shawns words were breathless and painfully forced.  
Marty, still sporting a smug smile, shrugged and returned to his seat resumming his signing. The other onlookers followed Jannetty's action and the audience parted.  
Eventually Shawn felt alive enough to join him. Before he sat down, he quickly leaned over, grabbing Martys water bottle, chugging it, saving only some for his soiled and diseased hand.  
"And Im taking this!" Shawn reached into the side pocket of Marty's gym bag, retrieving a handful of wet naps he knew Marty always kept stashed. Years of traveling together afforded Shawn this knowledge. The look Shawn shot him dared the Italian to object.   
Marty silently watched him drink the contents down without saying a word. When Shawn crunched the plastic bottle in his hands to make some kind of a statement to Marty, thowing it behind his own shoulder, the dark haired man finally spoke.   
"I spit in it. Could you taste it?"  
Shawns mouth fell open as Marty turned his attention back to what he was there for.  
Shawn tore open a few naps and rubbed his hand with them. Once satisfied his hand was free of used and chewed pork, he sank down in his chair but was quickly met with a wet seat. The liquid soaked into his light colored jeans. There was enough of a puddle on the chair that it wrapped a wet stain around the front of his pants. 

"Shawn, were going to need you now for your speech." One of the promotors motioned Shawn over.   
Shawn refused to look at Marty. Instead he kept his eyes down at his crotch, wondering what to do with himself. If he got up now, everyone would think he pissed himself.   
"Come on Shawn, your up! Lets get a move on!" Vince appeared in front of him rushing him on stage. "Were on a schedual here lets go!" Vince was in no mood for Shawns dawdling.  
Numbly, Shawn shluffed on stage.  
Thankfully the lights being low as they were didnt draw attention to his pants. That is until Marty stood up, pointing to Shawn.   
"Shawn ya need a diaper? Change of pants by chance? What IS that on your pants?"  
Shawn felt the spotlight on the stage narrow and focus on his lower half. He heard the audience mumble amongst themselves and saw the people lean forward, straining to see what was brought to their attention.


	3. The Vault

Shawn stood on stage frozen, long moments ticked past before he could move. Marty didnt just alert the crowd, did he? He did! That son of a bitch! The embarrased blonde did all he could think to do to cover his lower half, but it was too late. Not only Marty was bent over laughing, but the entire crowd was joining him, at Shawns expense.  
Michaels frantically looked to Vince for a way out of it, but he found Mcmahon was staring at him in such a way, Shawn knew he would be of no help. Without speaking Shawn removed himself from the stage and onlookers, taking off where he knew noone would be. The banquet hall. Banquets were closed and that part of the wing was deserted accept for the occasional wrestler looking for the employee vending machines. Thankfully, no one seemed to be in a snacking mood.   
Shawn paced the empty hallways and cursed Martys name. Sure he ended their relationship, degraded and brow beat him every chance he could, and sure he may have publically helped Marty through a plate glass window, putting him out of action for months, but he didnt deserve this! Shawns anger grew as he pictured Martys baby face mocking him amongst the crowd of hippopotumus.   
Shawn swore he would avenge himself, somehow. Someway.   
Thats when he heard a sound from behind him.   
Lingering laughter. Like an after thought or residual chuckling. He recognized the laugh. He would anywhere. Marty Fucking Jannetty!  
Shawn stepped behind a rack of aprons and chefs jackets, hiding from the man. Peering from behind the rack, Shawn could see his former best friend pull a dollar from his billfold and straighten it, sliding it into the vending machine. Shawn prayed the machine would eat his dollar. It didnt. A kit kat was released from the spiral and clunked to the bottom. Marty casually picked it up and turned to go. He was nearly gone when Michaels decided he just coudlnt let it go.   
He stepped from behind the clothing and applauded Marty, clapping longer than he needed to in order to catch the mans attention.  
The dark haired man was drawn to the sound behind him as he turned. Shawn noticed his eyes immediatly fell to his pants, where another fit of laughter took over him.   
Shawn stood, rolling his eyes.  
"Yeah, yeah, that was really fucking funny Marty. Real fucking funny! I dont know what this shit is even, it could be piss from one or both of those hogs, and you draw everyones attention to it. Real funny."  
Shawn stood, pouting in his anger. He doubted by Martys continued laughter he would get a sincere apology, or even a phony one, but he pushed on anyways.  
"Keep your laughing up Marty. Real nice. This could be diseased shit on me."  
Marty composed himself long enough to assure Shawn.   
"Well, its not shit. I wish Id have thought of that before. Id have made it look like you shit yourself instead of just pissin' all over yourself. A few seconds of this in a microwave could have done that trick." Marty breifly held up his chocolate bar.  
Shawn faked a laugh. "Oh, you have all the...." Shawn stopped himself. A realization struck him suddenly. Marty poured water on his seat. It wasnt the hefers at all. Marty was to blame for this fiasco. His blood boiled at the same time relief washed over him. He wasnt going to die from a horrible fat disease after all.  
Shawn opened his mouth to yell obsenities but like usual, Shawn saw red before he thought. He couldnt kick Martys ass, especially in a street fight, that was proven a couple times before, but it didnt stop him from taking a swing at Martys face.  
The fist hit his jaw and flung Marty back through an open door of a small room, sending him crashing to the floor.  
Marty, shocked at the power behind the swing, reached up and touched his mouth. It wasnt bleeding but it did hurt a bit.   
Marty made no attempt to stand. He didnt want to fight Shawn, he knew if it came down to blows, if Marty was expecting a fight, Shawn would be resemble the bits of meat that lay on the bottoms of the fat womens stomach.   
He shook his head and calmly rose to his feet.   
"Christ, Shawn." Marty almost sounded resigned to the fact the Shawn he once knew and loved was long gone, and who stood before him was someone he didnt know or really want to know.   
"It was a fucking joke. And you deserved it." Marty didnt laugh again but did try to leave the room.  
Shawn blocked his path out.   
"Nuhuh. You apologize for this. Go up on stage and tell everyone. Im not going to be made a fool of. Especially by you."  
Martys eyes fell on Shawns. "Shawn, you do that all by yourself without any help from me." Marty said it so seriously, Shawn grew angrier with his honesty. Jannetty again tried to pass by, but Shawn shoved him hard backwards, grabbing the door.  
In that moment he saw fear in Martys eyes as Marty tried to speak.  
"No dont...Shawn no...dont cl...."  
"Shut up!" Shawn slammed the heavy door anticipating an argument. He sure didnt want Vince rushing down fireing both of them for what was about to transpire. He was going to kick Martys ass no matter what the cost, and the fear he finally saw in Martys face was the drive he needed. "You fucked up my speech!"  
Marty must have been shaking in his boots, finally fearful of Shawns punches, because he grabbed his head, turning away, muttering "fuck" over and over.  
"Yeah, thats right," Shawn stood ridiculously with his fists raised in front of his chest. "Im gonna kick your ass. So lets go!"  
"Shawn, you fucking idiot!" Marty spun around, repeating himself. "You fucking moron! You locked us in here!"  
Shawn didnt know what the hell Marty was going on about, but he was sure it was a distraction on Martys part.   
"What are you talking about?" Shawn asked, slightly lowering his fists.  
Marty pushed past Shawn and pulled on the door handle. It didnt open the door. Martys shoulders sank as he tried a few more times to unsuccessfully open the door.  
"Why wont it open?" Shawn asked stupidly.  
Marty slammed his hand against the door in frusteration.   
"Because Shawn, you fucking closed it! This is an old fucking vault, a safe. The doors dont open from the inside."  
Shawns fists unfolded and dropped to his sides as he glanced around.   
"Theres no valuables in here."  
"Thats because its not in use dumbshit. But its a vault all the same. And were locked in here."  
Marty sank down on a large plastic bucket and watched Shawn, in vein, try to open the door. Marty shook his head. Shawn was the type of person who pushed a lighted up elevator floor button after someone else had thinking it would get him to the floor faster.  
"Hey! Were locked in!" Shawn cried out.  
Marty looked up to Shawn, making a face at him. "Do you think so?"  
Shawn began beating on the door, yelling for someone to open it. Marty quietly listened to him. He knew no one would hear him, but he let Shawn beat his fists on the metal door anyhow.   
After twenty minutes Shawns fists hurt and his voice was more hoarse than usual. He sank down to the floor and looked at Marty.  
"You shouldnt have let me close the door. Its all your fault."  
Marty glared at Shawn but said nothing.   
"Do you have a cell phone?" Shawn asked, forgetting his anger.  
"Yes i do." Marty said flatly. "In my bag"  
Shawn sighed. "Mine too."  
After a few minutes of silence between the two, Shawn asked the dumbest question Marty had ever heard.   
"How are we going to get out of here?"  
Marty stared at him wondering how he ever found his way out of his mothers womb. He than hung his head, ignoring Shawn.  
Meanwhile, on the other side of the hotel, the show went on. Vince made Shawns speech for him. The autograph signings continued and a few other wrestlers spoke to the fans about their life and times in the WWE. No one seemed to notice that Marty and Shawn were nowhere to be seen. The crowd was just too thick.   
Four hours agaonizingly ticked by.  
Marty had nearly fallen asleep when he felt Shawn nudge him.   
"What are we gonna eat?"  
Marty opened his eyes but didnt look at Shawn. He closed them without answering, remembering the candy bar he had bought before being locked in.   
Twenty minutes later Marty was fast asleep. Shawns anxiety was through the roof. He didnt like small spaces or confined areas.   
An hour later Marty was awoken to a loud clanging noise. He found Shawn scaling the ceiling tall shelf that held retired pots, pans and stored dry goods such as napkins and placemats. Each time Shawn climbed another shelf taller, a pot or pan would fall, making more noise than Marty could sleep through.  
"What the fuck are you doin'?" Marty demanded. He was passing the time just fine until Shawn the kerr disturbed him.  
"Theres a hole" Shawn climbed higher. A box of a thousand placemats crashed to the floor sending a flurry of paper to scatter at Martys feet. "If I can get through it, its bound to lead somewhere. Ill just crawl through the ceiling until I find a room with people."   
Marty rolled his eyes when he saw the vent Shawn was refering too. It was way too small for any person other than a child to fit through.   
"And Im gonna leave you here too! Im not telling anyone about you for a week! No! Two weeks! They can come find you when your just dust and bones! And you deserve it too!" Shawns foot slipped and he nearly fell but he was quick to regain his balance.  
He clung to the shelf like a lizard would a tree, peering over his arm down to Marty who didnt look worried.  
"That vents too small. Youll get stuck." Marty said unenthused.   
"Yeah? You just wait and see! Ill be free and youll be in here all alone! Serves you right for what you did to me!" Shawn swatted at a large pan sending it sailing off the edge just to annoy Marty further. He knew he was trying to sleep.  
Finally reaching the top of the shelf, Shawn was able to pry the lid off the vent, realizing Marty was right, it was much smaller than he anticipated it being from the floor looking up. he paused to bite his fingernail and considered climbing down, ditching his escape route. But Marty was down there, watching. If he did that, Marty would be proven right. Besides, Shawn was flexable. He could fit in there if he just was careful about what parts of his body to put in first.   
"See you in a month!" Shawn spat from above, pushing one arm in the black hole, than his head.   
Marty watched from below as an eighth of Shawn disappeared. His feet grapped for leverage and pushed him further up.   
"Shawn your gonna get stuck...get down from there!"  
"See! Told you Id do it!" Shawns echoed voice gave away his pleasure at leaving Marty behind. "And Im not comin back either! No one is! Eat a placemat if you get hungry! Or a napkin! Im goin to get a steak as soon as Im...."  
Shawns words stopped, as did his movements. Marty held his breath and waited for him to pull himself out. Minutes ticked by. Than more minutes. Marty secretly grew worried. If Shawn lost his footing, he could fall. And if he was really stuck, than fell, his head might get torn off. Marty imagined Shawn in this very senario. His body falling to the side, than to the ground. His head and arm remaining in the vent. Marty was quite sure Shawn was like a praying mantis though, his head could be gone, but he would keep right on talking. Marty imagined Shawns body standing in front of him, after retrieving his own head, holding it like a basketball under his arm. Shawns mouth would keep right on going.   
"Ya see Marty, now Ive lost my head because of you. Its all your fault! How am I gonna reattach it now? Youd think with all this paper stuff they have stored in this room, they would have some tape, glue, staples, something to put my head back on! Are you just gonna sit there and sleep or are you gonna help me put my head back on?"  
Jannetty was pulled from his vision by a weak and pitiful voice, pleading with him from above.  
"Hey....Marty?"  
"What Shawn." Marty knew what was up already.  
"I think Im stuck." Shawn whined from within the vent. "I cant move and Im getting really uncomfortable. Its dark in here and if a rat comes along its gonna eat my face. Plus Im pretty sure im gonna run outta oxygen real soon."  
"You wont run out of oxygen. That vent leads through the whole building. The whole place would have to run outta air for you to suffocate." Marty gave this some thought. "Unless of course your throat swells from being stuck. Than youll suffocate up there in minutes."  
"Huh?" Shawn sounded nervous. "Unless what? My throat what?"  
Marty stood and looked up at what he could see of Shawn.   
"Just pull yourself out and stop screwing around!" Marty said angerly. He wasnt mad, not anymore, but worry sometimes made Marty sound pissed off. "Hurry up!"  
"Marty I cant move!" Shawn Marty could see was tugging to get free, but the vent refused to let go. "Im serious, I cant fucking move! Can you come up here and help me?"  
"God damn it." Marty said under his breath, climbing the same makeshift staircase of shelves up to Shawn. "Well what am I supposed to do about it?" Marty tried sizing up the situation from behind Shawn, but couldnt see much.  
"Grab me and pull me out!" Shawn barked from inside the small space. "Come on I think my throats swelling! I can feel it!"  
"Yeah I can see it is." Marty lied.  
"WHAT?! It is? How bad?" Shawn grew desperate, feeling his throat that wasnt swelling, swell.  
Marty sucked in a harsh breath. "Its pretty bad Shawn. Real bad in fact." Marty grabbed hold of Shawns waist and pulled.  
"OOOUCH! FUCK! THAT HURTS!" Shawn yelped and wiggled free of Martys grasp. "Be gentle on me!"  
Marty scoffed at this. "Yeah, Ill be as gentle on you as you were on me the day we ended." He muttered.  
"What was that?" Shawn tried to sound innocent and remorseful but feined innocents.  
"Nothing." Marty murmered. He was more concerened with getting Shawn out of there than anything, but there was no reason he coudlnt have fun while doing so.  
"Shit!"   
Shawn heard Marty swear and click his tongue. "Shawn, dont move."  
Shawn froze in terror. There was an edge to Martys tone that scared him.   
"Why?"  
"Shawn dont worry about it, but just....dont.....just dont move alright? No matter what you see, or hear, dont move!"  
Shawns eyes flared wide open, staring into the blackness. Marty knew something. Maybe something horrible. It certainly seemed horrible by his voice.  
"Whats going on?"  
"Nothing Shawn....just....just stay really really still ok."   
Shawn noted concern in Martys voice. It had to be something catastrophic for him to be concerned like this. Marty hated him now. He wouldnt be concerned if it wasnt something major about to happen.   
"Wha..."  
"SHH!" Marty hushed Shawn. "I heard it again!"  
Shawn listened to the blackness that surrounded him. He didnt hear a thing.  
"See! There it is again! You hear that? I think its....yeah....yeah....I think its right next to you!"  
Shawn could feel Marty back up away from him slightly, although he kept his hands on Shawns waist.   
"What do you hear?" Shawn listened for a response but when none came he asked again. "What do you hear?"  
"Something. Its.....I....Shawn I think its a.....I think its a rat....no! Shawn I think its a bunch of rats! They travel in colonies ypu know!"  
Shawns body became immobile for a brief time. He than panicked and began to struggle to get free, imagining an entire colony of rats attacking his face.   
"Marty pull! Pull Marty! Get me outta here! PLEASE! Ouch! Ouch! My hair! My cheek! I...ouch!" Shawn tried to yank himself free, with the help of Martys tugging. "Im gonna die in here!"  
Shawn realized his time on earth was coming to an end. And Marty would be there to see it. He pushed and tugged but he wouldnt budge.


	4. The Kit Kat And Temper Tantrums

"God im glad your here!"

Shawn stopped panicking enough to listen to Marty who was talking to someone besides him. "Glad whos here?" he asked, his voice echoing.  
"Yeah, we can go!"   
Shawn felt Marty let go of his waist. "Whos here? Marty? Whos that?"  
"Naw, thats just Shawn, leave him up there. Hes fine."  
"Marty! Is someone there? Your not leaving me are you? Marty? Marty....? Marty!" Shawns voice revealed his panic.  
"Oh, be quiet Shawn. No ones here but us." Marty again grabbed Shawn by the waist and gave one more good hard tug, setting him free. Shawn stumbled nearly off the shelf, but there he was, as loud, obnoxious and disagreeable as ever.  
"That wasnt nice to pretend you were leaving me! And that took you long enough getting me down! There was a hundred rats up there ya know! Had my hand not been up there to protect my face and ward them off, this perfect face would be gone! Gnawed off!" Shawn pointed to his face and tsked at Marty, climbing down from the shelf. Marty watched him and realized just how easy it would be to just nudge him off the side, watch him thump to the ground on his feet.  
Once down Marty took to a corner of the room and resumed his nap which enraged Michaels once again.  
"Are you just going to sleep this whole time?"  
"Nothing else to do." Marty said settling in for the night, not bothering to open his eyes. He figured they would be stuck in there until the banquet crew arrived the next morning. It was that or listen to Shawn complain for the next twelve or so hours.  
Martys bland outlook on their situation was obvious. He wasnt worried and Shawn probley shouldnt be either, but being this close to Marty didnt sit well with Shawn. It was hard being alone with him, wanting to say so much, ask so many questions, but knowing any answer given would be mute. Marty had cheated on him and it could never be taken back. It spelled the downfall of The Rockers, no matter what they publically claimed.  
When a paper airplane soared past Jannettys head, its wing slicing into his hair, Marty brushed it away not even bothering to flinch. When the second airplane made an emergency crash landing on his hip, he ignored it. However when the third and final ill fated flight set sail through the air and crash landed nose first into Martys closed left eye, it got his attention.  
"God damn it! Will you grow up and stop playing with those placemats! Im not paying for those ya know!" Marty rolled over giving his back to Shawn and tried to get some rest. it was nearly impossible being so close to Shawn, but Marty, despite his feelings of misery, tried anyways. Talking to Shawn wouldnt mean anything anyways. He had ended their relationship for no reason, and clearly never cared about him. The best thing to do was pretend he was alone in the small enclosure.  
Little did either man know there had been no affair. Marty hadnt been unfaithful at all during their relationship. The false tale that Rodey spun to Shawn was a lie all along. Rodey sometimes did that, just to mess around with peoples lives.   
(ting g g g linnnng!)  
The first spoon that hit the cement floor made Marty jump a little. He wasnt expecting a noise to ring out, but he was with Shawn so he realized he should expect the unexpected. And the ridiculous.  
(ting g g g linnnng!) (ting g g g linnnng!) (ting g g g linnnng!)  
The continued racket brought about a long audible prounounced sigh of protest from Marty.  
(ting g g g linnnng!)  
The dark haired man flung himself around to find Shawn with a tub full of spoons. Hundreds of spoons. He huffed on one, laid it on his nose, only to have it ting to the ground. He than reached for another. and another.....  
Marty covered his face and wondered if they had any Bug B Gone in the place. He could spray Shawn with it. He pictured Shawn laying on his back, withering away, his arms and legs curling up to his belly as he slowly perished. Marty could give him one more spray with the can, and if that didnt do the trick, he could squash him with his shoe. There were plenty of napkins to wipe the guts off with.  
(ting g g g linnnng!)  
"Are you planning on doing that with every spoon?" Marty asked through gritted teeth.  
"Yup." Shawn said, sticking another spoon to his nose only to have it fall to the ground at his feet.  
If there was a way to stick Shawn to a wall and make him stay, Marty wouldnt mind playing with knives. He always did say he wanted to learn how to be a knife thrower. He wondered how much tape it would take to keep Shawn pinned to a wall, knowing the most valueable peice of tape would be the one he secured over his mouth to shut him up.  
Marty pulled his shirt off and bunched it in a ball, laying it behind his head. He noticed the spoon dropping seised for a few minutes. closing his eyes Marty tried once again to fall asleep.  
Shawn tore his eyes away from a shirtless Marty. It brought back too many memories for him and he didnt want to go back there. Marty had once promised him forever, and broke that promise. Shawn became indignant. "Your not sleeping tonight Marty. Try and you will fail. Ill see to that." He thought to himself.  
Shawns eyes traveled the shelves that lined the one wall. There had to be something to antagonize Marty with. Shawn shoved a few boxes aside to see what was behind them when he saw an old silver napkin holder. The steel side gave off a nice reflection of Shawn. He picked it up and admired himself, tilting his head, exposing his perfectly straight teeth, even flexing an arm muscle in the makeshift mirror. He turned back to Marty, who was nearly asleep, and an idea struck him.   
After removing his shirt, Shawn removed his shoes and socks. The concrete floor was cold, so he put his socks back on and rid himself of his jeans. He wished the napkin holder side was larger so he could see his whole self in the reflection, but figured he, as usual, looked magnificent.   
Marty stirred uncomfortably on the ground. His back wasnt appreciating the rock hard surface as a bed. He lay there for a short time and rose up, looking annoyed with the entire situation.   
Thats when his eyes caught Shawn.  
The blonde sat on the bucket Marty had first claimed, but he was reclined back some. Martys eyes traveled down his chest, his stomach, resting on his cock momentarily before traveling down further. when he saw Shawn was still in his socks, Martys attraction fell slightly. Or at least it should have. Shawn looked goofy. Marty cast his eyes away just as Shawn looked his way.   
For a self proclaimed sexy boy, Shawn didnt know what sexy was if he thought those socks were doing it. And again, there was that strange familiarity about Shawn in just socks. Marty didnt know how many times after sex Shawn would walk naked to the fridge for a drink or bite to eat in just his socks. Marty would always laugh at him. The memory made Marty a little sad. He pushed it out of his mind best he could.  
Shawn watched Marty not watch him. To make himself better noticed, Shawn leaned a little further back on his bucket, resting his hands behind his head, trying to look suave and cool. The extra motion sent the bucket forward and Shawn back. He crashed backwards against the wall and floor on his back, his legs resting on top the bucket. The only thing of Shawn that Marty could see was the bottoms of his dirty socks as his legs flailed in the air grappling for balance.  
"God! Son of a....christ! Fuckin bucket!" Shawn kicked at the bucket and jumped to his feet. Marty turned away stiffling his laughter best he could while Shawn seethed. "Fucking bucket!" Shawn gave it a good kick across the room.   
Shawn couldnt have known it, but his little childish outbursts was Martys real attraction to him. It wasnt his body, his hair, his face, magnificiant as it was, but just Shawn. Shawn michaels, the one noone else could stand.   
The guys always asked Marty privatly how he could tolerate the blonde. Marty would always shrug and laugh it off. In all honesty, Marty was crazy about him. There was something magnetic about the man that drew Marty to him right away. Shawn, he didnt know, felt the same about him still. The only difference was, the other guys in the company didnt want to stuff Marty in a locker and beat him with a sock that had a bar of soap in it. Marty was a likeable guy. Shawn wasnt. I guess to like Shawn, you had to be a Marty.  
"Nice socks" Marty jabbed.  
Shawn huffed but looked at his socks when Marty turned away. They were black from filth. Grimacing, he pulled them off and stuffed them behind the boxes.  
"You did that on purpose." Shawn proclaimed, flouncing down on the ground opposite of Marty. He stared accusingly at him.  
Martys face twisted in aggrivation. "what did i do on purpose now?"  
"You kicked the bucket from under me. I saw you!"  
Marty frowned. Leave it to Shawn to come up with half cocked theories like that. "I did not."  
"Yeahuh you did so!" Shawn leaned forward pointing at the bucket which lay battered and beaten on the floor. "You kicked it! and I fell!" Shawn rubbed his back as if it just dawned on him it should hurt. "Im gonna sue you! Ouch! I think I tore a ligament, or a tendon!" Shawn continued to rub his unbroken and nonpainful back until something else hurt on him. His stomach. It growled and groaned. It protested and profesed its hunger pains. "Im starving." Shawn said quietly, hoping Marty would hear him and take pity on him. When Marty said nothing, Shawn repeated himself, a little louder this time. "Im starving i said!"   
Marty looked up knowing what Shawn wanted but refused to give in to him.  
"Good for you." he shot back unimpressed with Shawns pity trip.  
"Im hyperglysemic and I need to eat." Shawn moped, glancing up to Marty so he could see his suprised reaction to Shawns confession at his new dignosis. Marty would be alarmed. Shawn didnt think hyperglysimia was anything to mess around with. Marty would be stricken with sadness for him.  
"Your not hyperglysemic Shawn."   
Shawn turned down the corners of his mouth, petulance setting in.  
"I am so! I was diagnosed! And now Im gonna die from not eating!"  
Marty picked that time to pull out the Kit Kat from behind him, laying it on his thigh, stalling by rubbing his face.  
Shawn leaned forward. "Whats that! Where did you get that?"   
Marty glanced up to Shawn. "Vending machine. When I was minding my own business before you came along to ruin my night."  
"Can I have some?." Shawn pushed against the wall and stood up, walking to where Marty sat. He let himself fall back to his ass next to Marty, reaching for the candy.   
Marty swiftly slapped Shawns hand away.   
"Its mine." Marty stated matter of factly. He knew it wouldnt be too long before he would give Shawn the candy, but he was going to make him work for it.  
"I can have one bar of it! You have three! You can share with me!"   
Marty laughed "I can but I wont"  
Shawn was taken aback. Here he was, suffering, languishing in his illness and syndrome or virus, whatever the fuck hyperglicimia was, and Marty didnt care. He couldnt care one little bit about his ailments. Shawn clutched his stomach in an attempt to console the pains that didnt stab him. He pretended to get weak, lifting his hand slowly back to the candy.  
"Go sit over there Shawn." Marty pointed to a darkend corner of the storage room.   
"But its all dark and gloomy over there." Shawn said, his eyes scanning the dimly lit corner.  
"Thats where trolls like you should sit." Marty opened the candy and rolled the wrapper in a ball. Shawn licked his lips.   
"Can I just have one?" Shawn asked again, this time his tone easing some, almost resembling someone polite.  
"Nope." Marty said, breaking the candy in half, giving Shawn false hope.  
Shawn extended his hand, as if Marty was about to lay one half in his palm.  
"Your not getting any Shawn." Marty stalled by continuing to roll the wrapper in a ball in his hand. "Not a bite"  
Shawn threw himself backwards in a tantrum letting out a cry of pain. "Im gonna die in here and you dont even care enough to share half your candy with me."  
"Thats right" Marty said, waiting for Shawn to pull himself back up, difficult as Marty was sure it wasnt.  
Shawn did drag himself back up, but it appeared to take more effort than it really did. he woozed a moment, swaying as if faint was ready to strike, than turned his attention to the candy Marty was ready to devoure.   
"Just gonna throw this away...." Marty turned his upper body around pretending to throw the wrapper somewhere behind him, granting Shawn the opportunity to thieve the candy from his thigh.   
And he did. When Marty turned, half the candy was gone. Marty was actually suprised Shawn didnt take it all.  
He glanced up to the blonde to find his mouth full, full of the candy he had paid for. Shawn smiled childishly with a closed mouth.  
"You stole my Kit Kat?" Marty asked, knowing fully well he wanted Shawn to take it. He would have been fine had Shawn taken all of it. He left the entire bar there so he would do just that.  
Shawn said nothing but opened his mouth to reveal the chocolate and wafers that dissolved in his mouth. Marty looked at him disapprovingly.


	5. Possible Infestation Of Fleas

Shawn couldnt sleep the time away like Marty could. He tossed. He turned. He grumbled and complained. Marty eventually drug himself off to the trolls corner to get a break from Shawns flopping from side to side.  
Shawn followed him to bleat about their current predicament.   
"Shawn." Marty began rubbing his eyes. He had forgotten just how much of a nudnik he really was. "Im trying to get some rest. Can you please take your whining back over there."  
Shawn looked dejected. Whining was no fun if no one was around to listen to it or be annoyed by it. He had tried to sleep too but couldnt. He didnt think it was fair of Marty to flaunt his ability to sleep while they were just waiting around to die a slow death by starvation and dehydration. Sure, Marty had given him the other half of the Kit Kat, but it wasnt enough for Shawns stomach. Stupid Marty. He should have bought more than one candy bar while at the vending machine. And chips! Why didnt Marty buy chips?! Shawns thoughts fell back in time, so long ago, or so it seemed, to the women who stampeded their way to the sausage man. Shawn could picture sinking his teeth into one of those hot dogs or brats, even a burger, flat and dry as they were. The referal to a hot dog being a sausage didnt even put him out now. And the nachos with the melting cheese, why didnt Marty buy nachos for their lock down experience?   
"You shoulda bought nachos!" Shawn bellowed.  
Marty sat up. "What are you yelping about now?"  
"Nachos! Nachos Marty. Nachos! I mean they were right there! You could have at least got some! I mean what were you thinking?"  
"Geez Shawn, I dont know what I was thinking. I guess I should have known that some psycotic imbecile was going to get me locked in here. Your right. I should have planned ahead for this."  
Shawn smoldered on this.   
"Yeah, you should have!" He spat when he couldnt think of anything better to say.  
"Why didnt YOU bring food? At least I brought a candy bar." Marty stood not waiting for a response from Michaels. He began digging around in the miscalanious boxes, for what he wasnt sure, but it was better than listening to Shawn drone on about things they couldnt fix.  
Shawn hadnt considered this thought. He could have brought food, but it was just like Marty to point out what he should have done.   
"What are you looking for?" Shawn dug in a box next to the one Marty was looking through just to look busy.  
"I dont know I was just hoping that by doing this" Marty rattled the box full of items, "it would drown out the sound of your voice."  
Shawn grew quiet. Marty didnt like him. He never did. Here they were, all alone, frightened, hungry, near death, and Marty couldnt even be nice to him for a few minutes. Shawn was being nice to him. Sort of. Marty could at least be somewhat kind and not act like Shawn was some nuisance, a pest or vermin he coudlnt wait to rid himself of. Sulking, Shawn spoke so Marty couldnt hear his exact words, but would hear he said something.  
"You dont gotta be so mean to me. This is all your fault ya know" Shawns eyes lifted to Marty so he could watch him beg for him to repeat what he had said.  
"What?" Marty asked dismissivly.  
"Nothing." Shawn said, waiting for the begging from Marty to begin.  
Marty didnt ask again.  
So Shawn mumbled again.  
"What are you sniveling about now?"  
"Nothing." Shawn waited. "Not gonna tell you"  
Marty sighed and moved on to another box.   
"Not gonna help you look for whatever it is your looking for now." Shawn could feel his need to kick up a fuss grow stronger.  
Again Marty said nothing.  
Shawn purposly stepped on Martys foot, but it didnt get the reaction he wanted because he was only wearing socks.  
Marty walked to the very back of the room where he found a desk, covered with boxes. Marty was about to rummage through the drawers but Shawn stood in his way.  
"Move!" Marty barked.   
Shawn looked up, hurt.   
Marty saw the look and lowered his voice. "Shawn I want to look through these and your in my way. Go slither off that way so I can see if theres anything in here to get us the hell out of here."  
Shawn slinked away.   
His eyes followed Marty as he made a quick move for the door.   
With one turn of a key, the door opened.  
Marty turned, tossed the keys to Shawn, and walked out, leaving Shawn to stand there in his boxers and socks. 

"Where is everyone?" Shawn joined Marty in the empty signing room. "And wheres my stuff?"  
Marty exhaled wishing he had acted quicker and left the room, with the keys, closing the door behind him, leaving the undesirable parasite behind.   
"Its almost midnight. Everyones gone." Marty checked down the long corridor finding only a janitor. He asked about their bags but the janitor knew nothing about them.  
"Hey all my credit cards were in there. My money. My everything!"  
Marty chuckled. "Looks like youll be sleeping here after all Shawn. Have a good night!" Marty pulled his rental keys from his pocket and briskly left.   
Shawn was hot on his heels.  
"You have a car with you?" He trotted after Marty like a homeless puppy. Marty did his best to continue to ignore him.  
"I took a cab from the airport. I dont have a car here."  
Marty didnt hold the exit door open for Shawn to it beaned him in the face as he followed Marty out.  
"AhhOuch!" Shawn wheezed through his crushed nose. "Hey you beaned me in the face with the door!" Shawn hobbled after Marty who only wanted to get in his car, lock the doors, and drive away from the leech that trapsed after him. "I think its broken. Marty is it broken? Am I bleeding?" Shawn pulled his hands from his face so Marty could inspect the damage. Marty barely glanced at him.  
"Nope." he said turning the key in the door lock.   
"Where are you going? You going to eat? Do you have your wallet with you? I dont have mine. Its in my bag. Are you gonna get a room? That car seat looks more comfortable to sleep on than the floor ya know."  
Shawn strained to keep Marty from closing the door and abandoning Shawn to the dismal vault safe that wasnt in use.  
Marty got in and tried to close the door, but Shawns paws kept him from doing so.  
"Your really gonna leave me here?"  
Marty looked to Shawn and smiled. "Yes I am! Goodnight Shawn." With that Marty closed the door and started the engine, locking the doors. He was glad he did because Shawn tried to open the rear drivers door. He jogged along side Martys car through most of the parking lot.   
"Come on Marty. Can I come with you? Please? Its cold and I....Im in boxers! And my socks are wet! You cant leave me out here like this!" Shawn clutched his pants and shirt as he patted along side Marty in even dirtier socks. "I wont say a word to bug you! Ill be quiet! Honest! Come on now, please!"  
Marty flipped the radio on, turning up the volume.   
One more minute and he would be out of the parking lot, turning onto the expressway. Shawn would just be a spec in his rearview mirror.   
"Marty please! I dont wanna be here all by my....."   
Shawn disappeared. Marty was sure he hadnt run him over, he didnt feel a bump or hear a thud from under the car, yet Shawn was gone. Glancing in his side mirror he saw in the darkness a crumpled Shawn laying facedown in the lot, a pitiful expression on his face. If Marty drove away really fast, he wouldnt have to think about him anymore.  
Marty stopped at the turn out, ready to enter the highway.   
He didnt want to do it, but he again looked behind him at the forlorn image of his former partner and lover that made no attempt to stand. He lay there like a grub in the dirt.   
"Fuck" Marty lamented.   
He shifted into park and stepped out, calling to Shawn.  
"Go inside Shawn. Its gonna rain! Ill call Vince tomorrow and have him get you your bag back."  
Shawn lay like roadkill on the pavement. He made no attempt to move or even twitch.  
"Go on!" Marty shooshed his hands towards the building, knowing full well Shawn would lay there until he was either run over by one of the janitors or washed away down a drain by the coming storm.  
"I cant believe this." Marty mumbled to himself and hung his head and walked to the form that laid before him.   
"Get up and do something with yourself! For Christs sake Shawn! Arent you embarrassed at yourself?" Marty grabbed his wrist and pulled it up. He let it fall when Shawn made no attempt to get to his feet. Shawn didnt even try to keep it from free falling to earth.  
"Im not playing with you, get up!" Marty kicked him gently the way one would a corpse.  
"Im gonna die out here!" Shawns words were muffled as his words seeped into the pavement that his lips were pressed against.  
"Id like to run you over myself" Marty said quietly. Shawn heard him and cried out a pitiful whail. A mischeivious smile spread across Martys face as he pictured repeatedly driving over Shawn as if he was a speed bump.   
Thump......thump......thump.....thump.  
Marty bent over and from behind, grabbed Shawn under both his arms, hoisting his torso up, but it was impossible. Shawn went limp.   
"This is ridiculous!" Marty dragged the living cadaver a few feet on his knees towards the door to the building that seemed too far away for this action. Shawn drug along the ground like an overcooked spaghetti noodle. Marty dropped him without warning.   
Culump! Went the blondes body once again.   
Marty realized there was no way Shawn was going back inside. He could either let him lay here all night, run over him and put him out of his misery, or do the legal and unmerciful thing to himself, let Shawn come with him.   
"Jesus Christ!" Marty stared down at the lifeless structure of what was supposed to be a human being. "Alright if I let...." Marty wasnt allowed to finish. Shawn sprang back to life and quickly made his way to Martys vehicle, hopping in the passenger seat.  
He closed the door and waited for Marty, who now felt like being the carcass Shawn was moments ago and just letting death take him.   
What Marty had ever done in life to deserve the likes of Shawn Michaels was beyond him. Silently he took the drivers seat and closed the door. Martys head began to pound.  
Shawn flipped on the radio and stuffed three sticks of gum that he found in Martys cup holder into his mouth. He smacked the wad like cudd. Marty turned the radio off.  
"So...." Shawn began. Marty turned the radio back on. Anything not to have to listen or talk to the bothersome rodent that sat beside him.  
Shawn fiddled with the window. He rolled it down. He rolled it up. A few inches down again, a few inches up again. He menaced with the side mirror, switching it from the left, to the right. He flipped the dome lights on, than off. Than on, than off. Shawn dug through the glove compartment, closing it, just to open it again. He found Martys jacket in the backseat, pulling onto his lap where he proceeded to fish through his pockets, just so see what he would find.  
"Im gonna strap you to my bumper if you dont stop touching things!" Marty grabbed for his jacket but Shawn held it to his far left. While driving, Marty couldnt reach it.   
"Scourge" Marty thought to himself. "Hes like a mouth sore that wont go away or heal."  
Shawn put Martys jacket on himself.   
Before Marty could object, Shawn defended his actions.  
"Im cold!"  
"Its not my fault you undressed yourself." Marty couldnt really complain, He didnt mind the view, or at least he never used too, before they were forced apart. "Take it off Shawn, I dont want an infestation of fleas on it."  
Shawn zipped it up and reclined the seat back.  
"Where are we staying tonight?"  
"We?" Marty laughed. "Im staying in my hotel room that I reserved. I dont know where your staying."   
Shawn doubted he would be staying anywhere other than with Marty. He had nowhere to go and if push came down to shove, he would just pitch a fit of epic proportions. He was gifted at that and Marty always gave in.  
"What hotel are our reservations? What city? How much longer until we get there?"  
Shawn seriously didnt think for one second he was going to let him in his hotel room, did he? Shawn was brash and uncouth, but he couldnt possibly think....  
"I call dibbs on the shower first!" Shawn opened Martys schedual book and began to read it, keeping it just out of every attempted reach Marty made to get it back.  
"Your not staying with me. Its gonna rain, you can shower in the rain. And give me that!"  
"Does the room have one beds or two?" Shawn flipped a page.  
"What?! One! It has one bed Shawn! One bed for ME to sleep in cuz your sleeping outside! Your like the plague Shawn, the influenza of people, and you bring nothing but discomfort to my life, why in hell would i let you maggot your way into my room? Why would i do that? Why would any sane person do that? Why? Why? WHY?!!!"  
Shawn had never considered himself any of those things.   
When he had read all there was to read in Martys schedual book, he turned his attention to flipping through Martys cell phone. The contacts list. The text messages, even the sent were not considered by Shawn to be none of his business. A few failed attempts by Marty to get his phone back left him too exhausted to argue with the toddler next to him.


	6. Pizza And Sleeping Pills

Shawn trapsed after Marty into the hotel lobby where Marty collected his key in his name and made his way back outside to find his room. He turned the key and opened the door to a very comfortable and inviting room. For a hotel anyways. He stepped inside and turned around blocking Shawns entry.   
"Goodnight Shawn."   
With that Marty closed the door.  
Shawn wasnt concerned. They had just driven nearly two hours here, and Shawn had devised his plan.   
Marty had just pulled his shirt off and was ready to hop in the shower when a quiet but consistant knock came from the door. He shook his head and closed the door behind him in the bathroom. "He will be bored of knocking by the time im out." Marty lied to himself. At the same time he lied to himself, he vowed not to give in to the Reaper at his door. He wouldnt. He just wouldnt let him in. Shawn deserved every bit of what was happening to him. You throw someone through a window face first, Karma is bound to find you.   
After taking off his clothes, he stepped under the spray and closed his eyes. His back was stiff from laying on the cement floor and he was tired. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed, forget the fact he was hungry, and go to sleep. He shut the water off and stepped out, drying himself. When he reentered the room, he heard a tapping on the window next to the door. Marty opened the curtains to tell Shawn he was going to bed and he would call the police if he didnt stop, even though he knew he wouldnt. But as soon as the drapes opened Marty was met with a sight. Shawn had suctioned the side of his face to the glass.   
"Shawn, Im going to sleep. Im tired, I dont feel well, and I need to go to bed. Cut it out now." Marty closed the drapes and crawled into bed.  
For an hour Shawn knocked, his hissy fit at not being allowed in, and the need for the obsurdity to end, finally won Marty over. He sprang from his bed, throwing the door open.  
"Get in here than!"   
Shawn slunk inside, cowering at the way Marty eyeballed him.   
"Can I sleep in the bed?"  
"NO!"  
"Well where am I supposed to sleep?" Shawn groveled.  
"You can sleep in the bathtub under three feet of water as far as Im concerned, but your not setting on part of your body on this bed!"  
Shawn scrutinized this a second than placed his fingertip on the blanket, just to taunt and let dumb Marty know he wasnt agreeing to this.  
Marty was ready to flush him down the toilet.  
"Now, Im tired! I have a long drive ahead of me tomo...."  
"Where do you haveta go tomorrow?" Shawn innocently asked.  
"....Tomorrow...so I want to get some sleep while I still can. So lay down and shut up!"  
Shawn began to get into the bed following Martys command of "lay down" but was stopped by the man on the other side.   
"Not on the bed!"  
The blonde lifted his foot up and picked at the seam of his dirty and torn socks. "Can I at least shower before I shut up and lay down?"  
Marty threw the blankets over his head while Shawn busied himself with pulling his socks off. Without permission, Shawn showered, yelling over the water. "Do you have any shampoo? Did they give us a bar of soap? Can I use your soap? I saw there were towels, but is there any shampoo? What am i supposed to wash up with? Im just gonna use yours."  
Marty buried his face in the pillow and almost cried he was so frusterated .   
"Do you have any money on you? You know I cant sleep on an empty stomach ya know. Can we get some pizza? A burger, anything? I wonder if they have chinese food in this town."  
Marty pulled himself with lethargy from the bed, reaching into his pocket. He remembered being in a rush when he bought his coffee, shoving his change from a fifty in his jeans rather than his wallet. He had over fourty eight bucks, plenty for pizza.   
He picked up the phone, ordered a couple pizzas and sodas, and laid back down to wait.  
Shawn never could just sit down on a bed, he had to make a Hollywood show out of it and make the entire bed bounce.  
"Hey did you hear me? Im diabetic ya know, just recently diagnosed, I have the paperwork in my bag if you dont believe me, if I dont eat I become intolerable."  
Marty rolled his eyes. Shawn was born the most intolerable person in the world.   
"I thought you were hyperglycymic." Marty had given up on sleeping once again.  
Shawn scrunched his face. "Is that what I have?"  
"No. Thats the ailment you claim to have that you dont have."  
"Oh" Shawn said. "but Im still hungry."   
"I ordered pizza so youll shut up." Marty wished he could slip a sleeping pill or ten in Shawns pizza. Hed do it if they delivered sleeping pills.  
Just than their was a knock at the door. Marty thought there was nothing different about this knock from Shawns earlier knocking, but this knock didnt have the feel of doom and dread behind it. Shawn knock earlier felt like an asteroid the size of the US plumeting towards earth at record breaking speed.  
Before Marty could even think of getting up Shawn had beat him too it.   
"The pizza guys here!" Shawns voice rang through Martys head like a stampede of horses with cletes on. "Mmmm! Im starving!" Marty didnt have the pizza man paid or tipped yet and Shawn had half a piece shoved in his mouth already. "Dont forget to tip him" Shawn said with a mouthful.  
"How much for taking him with you and shoving him in one of your pizza ovens?" Marty asked the kid who looked like he had just graduated high school. The kid shrugged and looked at the one bed, the two men in the room, and high tailed it out of there.  
"Do you want a slice?" Shawn so graciously offered Marty the pizza Marty had paid for as he cracked open one of Martys sodas. "Want a soda?" he said taking a long loud guzzle. "You can have one"   
Marty grabbed a slice but didnt know what to do with it. His stomach had been queezy all night since sitting next to Shawn the first time at the signing. He laid it on the stand by the bed and stared at it as Shawn chattered on.  
"Its not good pizza. Its not bad, a little greasy, but its not really good either." Shawn pulled the cheese and other toppings off, eating that first, than he ate the bottom, tossing the crust in the box next to the rest of the pie.  
"Wanna watch tv?" Shawn reached for the remote flipping it on.  
"No!" Marty said, bending over as he sat on the bed. He wasnt feeling well and was feeling worse as the seconds ticked past.  
"This is a good show, remember this one?" Shawn pointed at the tv which played the last half of a movie they had once watched together. When they were them.  
"Hey you ok?" Shawn asked, setting his pizza and soda down.   
"Im fine." Marty said, but his head was swirling. He was finding it hard to breathe and was growing nautious.  
"You dont look so good Marty." Shawn said, sitting closer to him.  
Marty jumped up and made a quick dash for the outside, closing the door behind him. He needed air. Space. If he had more money or a credit card, hed have gotten another room for the night. He walked across a small patch of grass that separated the hotel with an apartment complex, sitting on one of the picnic tables.   
Shawn watched him from the window, contemplating going after him.  
He decided not too when he looked around the small hotel room, realizing what Marty was feeling. For the first time in two years, they resembled them again, but not really. And it was only for a few hours longer. For the first time that night, Shawn had nothing to say. He felt numb.  
About the twentith time Marty saw Shawns nose and eye peek through the tiny crack in the curtains he had collected himself enough to go back in. He contemplated eating some cold pizza, but knew his stomach couldnt handle it. So he drank half a soda, and decided to go to bed.  
Shawn was just the opposite, he was riled up and ready to talk. Since his change of heart nearly two years ago, not many wanted to talk to him, especially long into the night like he loved to do. Shawn was a natural born night owl and to him, it seemed, the wolrd just came alive at night. The air smelled differently, and although most people were tucked into their beds and were fast asleep, this is when the real action hit. He asked Marty questions, thought of ideas to pull Marty into conversation, and when Marty quit responding, he prattled on to himself, all the while keeping Marty awake. This was the part of Shawn that Marty doubted hed ever miss. Yet somehow, he did.   
Marty groaned from deep within. The scowndral he roomed with for this one night couldnt be grateful enough to just sleep. Marty couldnt even be sure what he was talking about now, but he was sure if he rolled over and looked, he would see Shawns body with a chipmunks head, just chirping away.  
"Shawn." Marty squeaked out the word. He was exhausted.   
Shawn stopped mid sentence. Finally, Marty would give in and talk.   
"Yeah?" Shawn hoped Marty would lead him into a long conversation. There was still two hours of darkness left before Shawn would be ready to get some rest.  
"If I give you a ride to wherever you want to go tomorrow, will you please let me go to sleep?"  
The blonde mulled on this. He pondered. He stewed. He even contemplated countering an offer. He did need a ride, Lord only knows where his bag was or when hed get it back and he sure didnt want to stay in this town. Especially without a room.  
"ok" he agreed. Marty thought it was a little too easy of Shawn, knowing how he was, but after todays events and the time since the two knew eachother, Marty figured maybe Shawn was growing tired, and maybe Shawn had changed some. Grown up a little.  
Not a Dots chance in hell of that!  
"Well where am I supposed to sleep?" Shawn tugged on the blanket Marty had just thrown over himself. "I aint got a blanket ya know. Or a pillow." Shawn pretended to be chilled. He craned his neck to each side, pretending it hurt. Marty whimpered. Shawn pretended to cough. "I think Im coming down with something. A cold. A bad one. Colds get worse ya know if your cold. Thats how the cold got its name." Shawn continued to peskily tug on the end of the blanket at the foot of the bed. "Guess you dont care if I get pnemonia and die"   
"Take the blanket and go sleep on the chair"  
Shawn turned halfways towards the chair but dismissed the idea. "Muscles get outta whack when you have a cold. My backs outta whack." Shawn stretched his back as a flurry of "ouches" spilled from his lips. "And what about a pillow for my neck? It hurts you know. And why cant I sleep there." Shawn pointed like a child points to an ice cream store.   
"Where?" Marty asked, knowing full well where Shawn wanted to sleep. He didnt bother looking at him.  
"There! In bed."  
Marty remembered the last time they slept together. It was the night prior to the barber shop. That night haunted Marty for two years, as did the day after.  
"No."   
"Well can I sit on the edge than, right here?" Shawn jabbed his finger into the foot of the bed. "Cant sleep on no floor, Ill pull my back out. You wont even know Im here."  
Marty felt the bed rustle and dip as Shawn tried to find a comfortable position. Marty had to pull his legs up.   
"Shawn, dont be dumb! You cant sleep there like that!"  
"Well you should have got a room with two beds!" Shawn sqwauked back. "Than we wouldnt have this problem!"  
"Shawn, nothing could have prepared me for knowing I was going to be forced to coexist with you for one night."  
Taking a breath in to argue this, Shawn turned to Marty. Marty prepared himself for whatever foolishness would tumble from his mouth, but he didnt have too. Shawn once again fell, this time off the bed. Marty heard a loud crack and figured it was Shawns head either striking the floor or the bedframe on his way down.  
"You kicked me off the bed!" Shawn crawled on two legs and one hand, the other clutching the back of his skull, to the side of the bed Marty lay. "You coulda just said I couldnt sleep there ya know, didnt have to go and kick me! First you kick me off a bucket, now the bed! Your mean!"


	7. Doritos And A Family Of Racoons

"Shawn, get in bed, close your mouth and eyes, and go to sleep." Marty said into the pillow he placed over his own face. With any luck, it would suffocate him during the night and spare him from Shawns drabble.  
Shawn grinned, flipped the lights out and pulled the blankets back, climbing in. Marty immediatly turned his back to him, keeping the pillow over his head. Shawn laid still in the dark staring at the ceiling until he couldnt take it any longer.   
A total of four minutes had gone by. The child couldnt sleep.  
"So, where are we going tomorrow?"  
"Im dropping you off in Houston. The first unsafe corner I find. Goodnight Shawn."  
"But where are you going?" Shawn turned his face to Marty.  
"Where you arent going to be."  
The corners of Shawns mouth turned down. Apparently he was going to have to drag a conversation out of Marty. How one could just lay in bed and instantly fall asleep confused and irked him.   
"Yeah? Wheres that?" he sat up in bed, leaning against the headboard.  
Marty ignored him. Shawn watched him a moment until it dawned on him Marty wasnt going to respond.   
Marty laid quietly with his eyes open listening to Shawn fidget. He fluffed his pillow. He straightened and smoothed his blankets. He fidgeted with the phone on the nightstand, pressing random numbers. He opened and closed the drawer that held a Bible, flipping fast through the pages before setting it back in and closing the drawer as noisily as he could. He got out of bed and pushed the mattress over, claiming it was off center. He flipped the light on, than off, got back into bed, out of bed, and flipped the light back on.  
"Shut the damn light off! Tryin to sleep over here!" Marty sounded much more hostle than need be Shawn thought to himself.   
Flipping the light off again Shawn got into bed and began tossing and turning, flopping around like a fish out of water. With each new flop came a discontented and loud sigh. His pillow must have gone flat again because Marty heard Shawn beat and pound on it, than shake it.   
"I hate hotel pillows dont you? They are always so uncomfortable."  
Marty said nothing and when the insomniac next to him was still for two minutes, Marty again closed his eyes, prepared to fall asleep.   
"The blankets are scratchy too."   
Marty felt Shawn itch his leg, than his arm, followed by his back. He had to sit up again to do so.  
Marty could usually control his temper,even with Shawn, but he was tired, cranky, and couldnt believe that after two years, of all the people he could have been laying in bed with, was a half naked Shawn. He turned swiftly, catching Michaels off guard, slammed his hand down on the blankets, and scolded Shawn.  
"Leave the blankets alone! Stop messing around with your pillow! Quit running your trap! I swear if you get out of this bed one more time im going to kill you, and for the love of god stop scratching!" Martys voice rose higher with every word. his glare lingered on Shawn for stronger impact. He than threw himself down and shut his eyes tightly. He was going to sleep no matter what bodily harm he had to cause Shawn. Tossing Shawn through the large picture window next to the door looked like a fine place to start.   
Shawn decided it was probley best to keep his mouth closed.   
At least for a little while.  
Marty slept all of maybe ten minutes when he was woken to a light flashing and flickering through his eyelids.   
He sat up and stared in disbelief at the television. Shawn flipped through the channels to amuse himself.  
"Hey i thought you were asleep! I didnt wake ya did I? I kept the sound off."  
Marty turned his look from the tv to Shawn, realizing in this moment just how crazy he really was.  
"But now that your up, wanna watch a movie?" Shawn sprang from the bed, pulling a card off the night stand. "They have payperview movies. You dont mind one being charged to your card, do ya? I was looking at them while you were sleeping. They have some good ones we havent seen yet." Shawn studied the card, handing it to Marty. "Well, at least I havent seen them yet."  
Marty numbly took the card.   
"Shawn..." Marty blinked innocently several times as he looked up.  
Shawn smiled excitedly like a kid expecting to get his way.   
"Bend over." Marty said seriously.  
Shawn looked confused for a minute.   
"Why?"  
Marty held up the long rectangular lamanated cardboard list of movies. "Because im going to shove this up your ass right now."  
Shawn frowned. Marty was just all full of threats tonight. It wasnt the answer he was looking for. If Marty wanted to, Shawn could think of better things to go up his ass. Or better yet, Martys.  
Marty stood up, placing the card on the stand his side of the bed. He briskly walked to the tv, unplugged it, and unscrewed the lightbulbs from each of the lamps within the room. Shawn watched his every move with curiosity. Marty had gotten crabby in the two years since they were an item.   
With precision Marty walked up to Shawn, standing less than an inch from him.  
"If I so much as hear one more noise come from your mouth, Im going to knock out each of your teeth, and tie your tongue in a knot. If one light is turned on before the sun wakes up, Im going to cram each of these bulbs up your ass one by one." For good measure, Marty twisted a bulb in his hand in front of Shawns face. "If after you lay down in bed, which is going to happen right now, and if that pillow or blanket moves so much as an inch, Im going to strangle you with them. Do I make myself clear?" Marty said each word with conviction, so much so that Shawn shrugged his shoulders in defeat, climbed into bed, closed his eyes and....eventually...fell asleep.

Marty woke up and showered, still not believing who still lay in his bed. He tried to push the thought out of his mind, but down deep he knew he still loved and missed Shawn. Whatever went wrong was a mystery to him. He just knew he could never survive another heartache like him again. They didnt call him the Heartbreak Kid for nothing.   
They had a four hour drive to houston, and Marty had every intention of dropping Shawn off the moment they arrived in town and driving away, never looking back. His heart, mind, and soul needed to be rid of Shawn. His antics werent helping to mend his heart. They only made him remember, and want him more.  
"Get up" Marty stood at the edge of the bed and refused to look down. He kept his eyes firmly on the wall and away from the man who didnt stir. After nearly seven years of waking Shawn up, doing it again cut like a knife. Sometimes its the simple little things that will drag you down memory lane. And my, does memory lane hurt. He tried his best to keep his heart an unemotinal stone.  
"We have to go, get up"   
If there was one thing about Shawn that Marty couldnt figure out how he did without him, it was getting him out of bed before three pm. All the years of traveling together, Marty couldnt remember one time that waking Shawn was an easy feat.   
"Get your ass up Shawn, come on, we gotta go."  
"Eerrrm" Shawn mumbled, falling back to sleep instanly.  
Marty shook his head glancing at his watch. It was nearly seven am and they were already an hour late hitting the road because of the gnat that lay sleeping and refused to wake up.  
"Come on, Im gonna leave you here if you dont get up"  
Shawn rolled onto his face and refused to show any sign of waking. "Im late already, lets go!" Again no movement.  
"God damn it Shawn, Im not playin around now wake up!"  
Shawn groaned angerly but never opened his eyes.   
Marty brushed his teeth for the second time giving Shawn a few extra minutes to sleep.   
"Do you want me to leave you here?" Marty shoved Shawn and shook him but Shawns body just rolled with the motions.   
Marty went outside to stretch and start the car. When he came back in he found Shawn just as he had left him. In a coma. This was going to take awhile.   
Marty walked back outside and turned the car off. He walked down to the vending machine and purchased a Coke for himself and a Mountain Dew for Shawn. He told himself he only bought Shawn a soda so he didnt have to listen to how thirsty he was for the next four hours.   
"Get up, come on I got you a soda" Marty held the cold can to Shawns back, but Shawn only made angry noises again and seeped under the blanket. He did this without ever opening his eyes.  
Marty had enough. He walked outside one more time, getting a bucket of ice. He filled it half full with water and threw it on Shawn.  
"Oh my God!" Shawn shot out of bed, eyes wide open, unclear of what just shocked him into the land of the living. Marty smiled wickedly but said nothing. He merely handed Shawn his soda and walked outside to wait for him.  
Shawn took a quick shower, put his clothes on, and met Marty in the car.   
"That was cold ya know"  
"I know" Marty smiled as they left that town, and their one night together again, behind them. 

"How long till we get to Houston?" Shawn asked.  
"Four hours" Marty said, flipping on his turn signal to exit the highway. He had given Shawn a map and asked him to read off the directions that Marty had previously written down.   
"When can we eat?" Shawn whined like a four year old, rolling the window up and down, until Marty was forced to lock it on his side.  
"You can eat when you get to Houston." Marty calmly informed him. "After I drop you off."  
Shawn sulked. He was anemic and if he didnt eat....well....something bad would happen. He would have told Marty this, but he knew anemic wasnt the diagnosis he had previously given him, and he didnt want Marty to think he was faking his medical catastrophy.   
"But im hungry now! And I dont have any money to eat alone!" Shawn made a point to draw Martys attention to every fast food place they passed by pointing wildly. Marty had bought dinner for them the night before, apparently he should treat Shawn to breakfast too.  
To appease and calm the child and prevent another tantrum, Marty swung through McDonalds and bought his temporary companion breakfast. His heart sunk, although he kept it to himself, realizing it was the last breakfast he would ever see him eat. Again, the little things.   
Shawn was content.   
For a little while.  
"Im thirsty." Shawn looked to Marty as if he could instantly do something about this.   
"Drink your soda." Marty tapped the cup that sat half full between them.  
"Its warm" Shawn pouted.  
"Than drink your orange juice" Marty glanced at the unfinished juice Shawn had gotten with his breakfast.  
"Its got too much pulp in it."  
"Its fast food orange juice, it doesnt have pulp." When Marty couldnt reason with him, he continued. "Dont know what to tell you, cuz Im not stopping again" Marty fully prepared himself for a fit, but this time he wasnt giving in. He would hold strong to his words and keep right on driving. Shawn could dehydrate next to him for all he cared. He wasnt going to stop.  
Twenty minutes later Shawns head hung out of the window like a dog as he panted for moisture. It was lightly raining and he tried to catch the raindrops on his tongue. "So he wouldnt die," he explained to a horrible Marty, who refused to stop at each gas station they passed.  
With each road sign they sped by, Marty had to keep himself from swerving a few feet over. He could almost see Shawns severed head bouncing on the roadway behind them. One quick twack and it would be all over. Sure, Shawns body would still be in the car, but with no head, there was no mouth, and with no mouth would come glorious silence and peace.   
Marty figured he could easily travel three and a half hours with Shawns headless body.  
A few minutes later Marty saw red and blue lights flash behind him. Than he heard the whale of a police siren. He pulled Shawns upper body inside and his vehicle to the side of the road. 

"Your paying for these" Marty thrust the citations at Shawn.   
"How was I supposed to know its illegal to hang out a window? I was thirsty. And you wouldnt stop!"  
"Put your seat belt on! I dont want another ticket because of you!"   
Shawn stuffed the tickets in the console between them and put on his belt. He than thought better of it and stuffed them into the glove compartment. Out of sight, out of mind. Marty was already in a bad mood.  
"So can we stop to get sumthin to drink now?"  
Marty stopped at the first gas station he came too, which thankfully was right on the corner.  
"Get out! Get out! Get something to drink! Just get out and shut up!" Martys words rolled off his tongue as fast as an auctioneer. He pulled his sunglasses off in a rage and began cleaning them with his shirt. They werent dirty, but he knew if his hands werent busy and occupied, he would ring the neck the man riding shotgun, and never stop. Shawn stepped got out but his face soon appeared in the window as he bent over.  
"Your not gonna leave me here are ya?"  
If Marty looked his way right now, hed have punched him. He kept his eyes in front of him.   
"Shawn...go."  
"ok, Ill be right back."  
Marty crumpled over his steering wheel. He had less than two hours sleep, was fighting to kill a love that just wouldnt die, and needed to get to his next schedualed event, and he was quickly running out of time. It was than he realized he never heard Shawns feet leave their area. His eyes opened as the annoying and froggy voice began.  
"Oh, hey Marty?" Shawn reappeared, this time at Martys open window. Marty pulled away. Shawns face was just too close.  
"What?!" Marty snapped.   
"I need some money." Shawns greedy hand came through the window waiting for Marty to give him some. He accepted the twenty dollar bill, the last of Martys money, and came out with not just a soda, but twenty dollars worth of snacks and drinks. Marty wasnt shocked or suprised. Shawn graciously handed him eleven cents. His change.

"Give me the map." Marty snatched the paper from Michaels hands and studied it. Shawn could hear crickets come alive as the sun set.  
"This isnt right." Marty said under his breath, backtracking their drive with his finger along the map.   
"Were right here" Shawn leaned over and pointed to a random area of the map that he thought would apease Marty.   
"If we were right there, wed be on a freeway. Does this look like a freeway to you?" Martys arms flung to their sides as he exaggeratedly motioned to their surroundings.  
Shawn looked around. It didnt look like a freeway to him, no. It looked like the middle of nowhere to him. A family of racoons walked across the road giving a look of distain to the vehicle that didnt belong there, idoling on the side of the road, clearly lost.   
Marty shook his head aggrivated. He looked from the map to the small clock on the dashboard. There was no way in hell he was going to be making his match tonight, and with no phone or credit card, he couldnt call vince to tell him. Shawn was off the hook, he had the next week off.  
Marty got out and smoothed the map across the hood of the car. From within the vehicle Shawn watched him try to pinpoint where they were. Marty couldnt have known, but a feeling had been bothering Shawn the last couple of days. An empty feeling he could only define in one word. Marty. He missed him. He missed everything about him. His smell. His voice. His intolerance to staying up all hours of the night. Holding him. Most of all, Shawn missed holding him. He listened to Marty quietly talk to himself and fought the feeling of needing him again. But the one thing Shawn needed from him was the one thing Marty proved he couldnt give him, his loyalty.  
Marty got back in but didnt pull away. He sank back in his seat and gave their current position some thought. He knew the gas tank was nearly empty but didnt want to alert Shawn to this, no reason both being panicked, so he remained quiet. Besides, he didnt want to jinx anything. Maybe if they kept driving a gas station would suddenly appear through the trees.   
He was pulled from his hopes by Shawn opening a bag of Doritos, cruching away loudly.  
"Want some?" Shawn shoved the bag under Martys nose, who refused even though he was really hungry. Hed eat when he found civiliazation.   
Six miles down the road, the car sputtered and came to rest.   
"Whats that?" Shawn said through partially chewed chips.  
"That.." Marty sighed "is this car running out of gas." Marty turned the engine off and again fell against the seat. It was completly dark now and there was no sign of human life ever discovering this area. They hadnt seen a town for what seemed like hours and the only house they saw was about two miles back, and even it seemed undwelled in.  
"What are we gonna do now?" Shawn said stuffing a handful of once triangular nacho cheese flavored snacks into his mouth. Two halves fell on the seat next to him, than to the floor. Marty, who liked to keep a rental spotless, didnt care. Soon, Shawn had reached the bottom of the bag where only crumbs lingered. He tipped the contents to his face as a shower of crumbs cascaded down his face and chest, and all over the car. Still, Marty didnt care.  
Shaking his head, Marty whispered, more to himself, "I dont know. I really dont know."


	8. Dust And Lies

"Wait up! I gotta grab this stuff! Marty come on wait up!" Shawn grabbed the remaining chips and soda from the back seat and jogged to catch up to Marty who walked as fast as he could down the road. Where exactly he was going he didnt know, but he knew he wanted to get there soon.  
"Where are we going?" Shawn asked handing Marty half his armfull.  
"Just....I dont know." Marty stuffed the soda cans in his jacket pockets and tried to think. No phone. No car. Middle of nowhere. And that storm that was threatning the sky didnt look friendly.   
Two miles down the road Shawn stopped in front of a small dark colored house nearly hidden from view. "Lets go see if someones home"   
Marty hesitated. the house seemed like it had been painted black, but no one paints houses black. It had to just be the fact it was so dark out. If it was painted black, he couldnt imagine what kind of people they would be meeting. The thought struck Marty as odd. Black was a common color, yet no one had a black house.  
"I doubt anyones even home. I dont see any lights on." Marty strained to see anything in the darkness.  
"Well lets go see" Shawn tugged on Martys sleeve but didnt wait for Marty to follow, he ran up the narrow driveway that, from the looks of it, hadnt seen a vehicle in years. He pushed on the porch swing, making it creak back and forth lazily and knocked on the door. He waited a moment than cupped his face to the dirty window peering inside.   
Marty did follow Shawn. He wasnt about to let Shawn go up there all alone, and two men their size and shape was more intimidating than one.   
"I dont think anyone lives here Marty. I think its vacant" Shawn said rubbing his hands off on his jeans. "Lets go in"  
Marty didnt like the idea of breaking into someones house, lived in or not, it belonged to someone, but the storm began to ride in and so did the rain. It pelted the side of the house and everything in its path.   
Marty nodded his head. "Just dont break anything. I dont want to get it for vandalism on top of tresspassing."  
Shawn twisted the front doors knob and found it unlocked. He motioned Marty inside as he stepped in.   
"Its not bad, i was expecting alot worse, but this is kind of....cute!" Shawn bent over to blow the dust off a small table. The dust flew back in his face making him wince. He rubbed his eyes and looked to Marty with a pitiful smile, who rolled his eyes at Shawns dumbness. He laid the snacks Shawn made him carry down and emptied his pockets, looking around.   
It was a cute little house. Small, cozy, and it did seem abandoned long ago. He stuck his head in the only bedroom, hoping to not find a corpse of an undiscovered dead person, relieved to see there was none.   
There wasnt much furnature in the place, not anymore, but there was a bed. Aside from some dust, it looked clean enough for a desperate couple to sleep on.  
"Were not a couple! Not anymore!" Shawn corrected himself in his mind. He had to stop thinking this way. The past is the past.  
Marty emerged from what Shawn assumed was the kitchen and sank down to the floor, his back against the wall. He looked exhausted. Shawn slid down the wall and sat next to Marty.  
"Sorry you missed your match." he said sincerely.   
Marty shrugged. "It was a jobber match"   
Shawn knew it wasnt, but it was like Marty to try to make Shawn feel better no matter what the circumstance was. Marty didnt know it, but Shawn paid attention to his schedual, his matches, his progress without him. Deep down he wished Marty didnt make it as well as he did without him.   
Marty fell asleep against the wall and Shawn let him sleep. He listened to the wind howl and the rain pour sheets against the roof and windows. Even though they were there, in the middle of nowhere, in this desolate little house, Shawn didnt mind somehow. If he had to be in this position, he couldnt think of anyone hed rather be with than Marty. He also realized that if not for him, Marty wouldnt be in this position. He would be at his match right now, and not stuck there with the man who attacked him that day on the barber shop. In that moment, watching him sleep, Shawn forgave Marty for being unfaithful. He just didnt know if Marty could forgive him. What Shawn had done was awful. Although he fought sleep, it soon found him. 

Awhile later, Shawn woke up to find Marty gone. He squinted in the darkness and soon found him sitting outside on the porch swing, gently pushing off the railing with his foot. He lowered it so Shawn could get past him and take a seat next to him. The rain had stopped and the moon was out, full and bright.   
For a long time they didnt talk. Breaking the silence, Shawn began what he should have done long ago.  
"Can i ask you something?" he treaded cautiously, unsure if he wanted to know the answer to what he was going to ask.  
Marty looked at him and nodded his head.  
Shawn looked to the ground contemplating asking Marty something stupid instead.   
"What?" Marty asked softly while Shawn thought.  
"Why did you...." the blonde looked out towards the road, realizing this was the best time and place for this, even though his guts twisted at the thought of bringing it all up. He may not ever have another chance to ask. "...cheat on me?" He braced himself for the worst answer possible. That Marty never did love him, and it hadnt been the first time he had done so.  
Seconds ticked by, but to Shawn it felt like an eternity.  
"I never did Shawn." Marty said, sounding a little bewildered at the question.  
Shawn almost laughed. After two years and all that had transpired, he would think Marty could at least be honest now.  
"ok" Shawn nodded his head accepting the fact Marty was just a liar. If thats how he wanted it to be, he could accept that. Sort of.  
Marty was ready to let it go, figuring he had just wanted to know if he ever had, for whaever reason, but there was a truth to Shawns question, a depth that Marty couldnt shake. After a few minutes of thinking about it, Marty pressed him.  
"Do you think I did?"  
Shawn shook his head, he wasnt going to drag it out of him. If he didnt want closure to them, that was fine. Shawn could find closure in knowing he had always been faithful and Marty just couldnt be. Obviously Shawn loved him much more than Marty ever loved him.  
"Just forget it" Shawn said standing up. He needed to get away from the man for a minute, and the path behind the house seemed like a fine place to collect his thoughts and emotions.  
"No..." Marty said, grabbing Shawns arm, pulling him back down. "Do you?"  
"I know you did" Shawn said, this time finding the courage to look Marty in the eyes.  
Martys face twisted slightly as he studied the blondes face.   
"Shawn, I never....why would you even think that?"  
Shawn again rose and shook his head, this time more dramatically. He never should have taken the conversation to this place. He opened a can of worms best left sealed.  
"It doesnt matter, Im gonna..."   
"No Shawn, you...you ask me something like that at least back it up with a why, some kinda explination." Marty stood as well.  
"I think your the one who should explain things Marty." Shawn could feel both anger and sadness growing inside him. He wanted to walk away, keep things lighthearted and civil for as long as they were there, but the other side of Shawn wanted to have this out. For two years he stewed on what he did so wrong that Marty could have lied right to his face, finally settling on the fact that Marty was just a liar who had played him for a fool all the years together. God only knows how many romances Marty had behind his back.  
Marty blinked at Shawn, tossing his arms to his side. "Well I dont. I dont know why you would even ask me something like that. You know I never did anything like that. You know how I fee.....felt."   
Marty knew by reading Shawns face that he was angry, but he didnt know why. He had always loved Shawn, and gone to great lengths to let him know he did. Shawn was the one who ended things, in the most violent of ways too. It was Shawn who grew tired of them. For two years Marty thought of nothing but the possible reasons for Shawns decision to break them apart. He never found any answers. If Shawn wanted to have this out right here that was fine by Marty. Maybe he would finally have the answers to his questions. He already knew them anways, he figured. Shawn just never loved him.   
Shawn stiffled a laugh. "You cant even say it. You trip over saying how you felt."  
Marty pressed his lips together. He always struggled with the L word, it didnt come as easily said as it did for Shawn, but surly he knew how he felt. He had to. Shawn had been his world back than.   
"Forget it. Just dont even pretend anymore. It doesnt matter anyways anymore." Shawn waved him off like he didnt care and stepped off the porch. Marty watched him round the house and disappear in the darkness.   
"You start something and dont finish. Thats your problem Shawn, you never finish what you start." Marty said catching up with him down the path.  
Shawn stopped in his tracks turning to Marty, a cocky smile that wasnt really a smile spreading across his face. It protected him when he felt too much or didnt want to give away his true emotions.  
"Oh, do I now? Who didnt finish what they started, huh? Huh? It wasnt me Marty, oh no sir, it wasnt me! That was all you! Starting all kinds of things with all kinds of people."  
Marty stared at him getting an attitude of his own.   
"I was prepared to finish things Shawn, your the one who ended things. And I have the scars to prove it"  
"Oh, you have scars alright Marty, but so do I. Dont forget that" Shawn snapped and for the first time in two days, wished Marty wasnt around.  
"I never gave you scars Shawn I...."  
"Fucking liar!" Shawn spun to face Marty, doing all he could to keep his hands to himself and not shove Marty out of frusteration and anger. He didnt want to go back to that dark place in his life where he settled things with Marty with his hands.  
"You fucking lie! You fucked that bitch, and Lord knows who else, than came back to me thinking I was fucking stupid and didnt know! Thankfully Rodey told me the truth about you! You never planned on telling me! Than you blame ME for our breakup! You worked everyone Marty, everyone. Everyone thought you were the innocent one, wronged by me. Little did they know!"  
Marty was flabbergasted. He never cheated on Shawn with anyone. Whoever Shawn was talking about he was very misinformed. Or maybe this was some game for Shawn, again. Accuse him of something he never did, just to mind fuck him. At this stage of the game, there wasnt much he would put past the blonde.  
The dark haired man shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket and composed himself.   
"I never cheated on you Shawn. I loved you with all my heart. I never would have hurt you like that. I dont know why you would think I could do that to you." Marty watched Shawn for any sign of believing him. "But it doesnt matter now, your right." With that he turned and headed back to the house. Shawn headed away and down the path. He needed to get away for a time before he said things that couldnt be taken back. Things he said before but didnt mean.  
An hour later, Shawn walked in to find Marty sitting in a corner of the room.   
"You can have the bed tonight. Ill sleep on the floor." Shawn said looking down at Marty who refused to look up at him.  
"Just take it. Im fine right here." Marty said toneless.  
Shawn had every intention of turning away, finding a spot on the floor to sleep and just getting throught the night, but he couldnt bring himself to do it. He sat down by Marty and laid his head against the wall.


	9. Truth, Lies, and Two Sticks

Neither man said much for awhile. They avoided looking at each other but both were thinking about the other and how it all fell apart so quickly. They had been on top of the world together, and now it was all gone.  
"Im sorry that I ended things the way I did. I never should have." Shawn struggled with his words. He struggled because he meant them. He found it easy to be cocky and arrogant with Marty when the bad blood ran fast and furious, the last two years he found it near impossible to feel anything but anger and bitterness, but now things had changed. "Im sorry I hurt you that way."  
Marty swallowed hard and tried to think of what to say. He never thought he would hear those words from him, and now that he had, he didnt know how to feel.  
Settling for a meek but genuine smile, Marty nodded his head and thanked Shawn. It was all he could think to do.  
Inside Shawn wished Marty would also aplogize for ruining the trust they had, but clearly Marty wasnt going to do that. Time didnt erase the hurt, but it helped some. He did forgive him.   
"Wanna watch a movie?" Shawn grinned at Marty who looked up to catch the joke. He cracked his own smile and shook his head.   
"Sure, if we ever see electricity or a tv again, Ill watch a movie with you." Marty grabbed a twig that had blown in through the broken window and scribbled random lines and squiggles in the dust on the floor. Anything to avoid a deeper conversation or a hope of one day they could go back to the days when they actually could and did watch television together. Really watch tv together.   
Shawn searched the immediate area and found his own stick.   
"My sticks smaller than yours" Shawn held up the stick and laughed.  
"It works." Marty said, his smile fading as he added. "or did."  
Shawn gave Marty a long look. He knew Marty had a hard time with real emotion, but something inside Shawn told him to move forward. He scrawled "I miss you" in the dust between them.   
Marty glanced at the words and smiled half way. He wasnt one to quickly come to tears, but a few stung his eyes. Rather than leave things as they were, which is what his mind told him to do, his heart won over as he returned the sentament and wrote "me too."  
"You miss you?" Shawn squeaked.  
Marty slightly shook his head no. He was afraid to speak for fear of showing Shawn just how emotional he really was, so he poked Shawn gently with the stick. "I miss you"  
Shawn felt his own tears as he pulled Marty against his chest, wrapping both arms around him.   
Marty didnt object and Shawn felt the need to say more.  
"I wish when things went so bad, wed have gotten stuck here. Avoided all the...." Shawn stopped himself. He didnt want to put a negative spin on the last few minutes, but it needed to be said. Had they found themselves here two years ago, with nothing but each other and a chance to talk, maybe things would have turned out differently. Maybe forgiveness would have come than.  
Marty listened for Shawn to finish for a minute, when he didnt he leaned up, silently questioning him.  
"All the times we didnt just talk things through." Shawn finally finished, pulling Marty back to him.  
Marty found this odd, but didnt question him. Shawn took his silence as guilt. He didnt dwell on it. They both had paid enough of a price already.   
"So...." Shawn began.   
Marty braced himself for another confusing cryptic conversation that only Shawn seemed to understand.  
"About my stick"   
Marty laughed against Shawns side. He had fleeting thoughts about this starting from the time Shawn followed him into the vault, but he had chased them all away as ridiculous. They were enemies. The were enemies. But since Shawn had brought it up......  
"Yeah, about your stick...." Marty encouraged him.   
Shawn didnt let him finish, taking his green light and running with it, he kissed Marty . 

"Im covered in dust." Shawn stood up looking down at himself. His knees were reddened and sore, and dust clung to him. "Im all sweaty too." He used his shirt to clean himself off. It was dirty anyways. "Not that Im complaining. That was, amazing, even though it was on the floor, instead of a bed." Shawn laughed at them, getting so carried away in eachother, they forgot about the bed.  
Marty eyed his own shirt, knowing hed have to put it on again, and couldnt bring himself to do that. Instead he walked outside and washed up with the rain water that collected in the abandoned basin once used for flowers.  
"You couldnt have told me to do the same before I used my shirt?" Shawn jabbed a finger into Marty s ribs.

Afterwards, they crawled into bed, holding eachother, and talked until they both finally fell asleep, which wasnt long after they laid down. 

 

Shawn stared down at the words written on the floor. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Marty had woken before he did and left to find help. He would have been glad to go with him, even if they walked for hours, they still had so much to say to one another, but he wasnt given that chance. 

Three hours later he cast a glance back at the small house that brought them both together again, even if for a short period of time, and asked the driver, that Marty had sent, to wait a minute. Running back inside, Shawn picked up the two sticks and carfully held them in his hand. he could bring the memories from last night with him, and the two sticks that wrote so much in such few words. He than got in the vehicle and headed for the airport. Alone. Marty had left no note, no message with the driver, and had not returned with him. All the driver knew was that he was paid to collect Shawn and drop him at the nearest airport. And to give him the envelope. It contained cash for his ticket. Nothing more.  
As Shawn boarded the plane, he felt heavy, yet empty. He already missed Marty , and knew he missed his chance to tell him he still loved him, and wanted him back.   
He couldnt have known, but two hundred miles away, after a lonely plane ride, Marty was settling in his hotel room, feeling the same.   
He thought about going with to pick Shawn up, but why? They were over now, and one night of sex added up to a whole lotta nothing. If Shawn wanted any reconsiliation that meant anything, he would have said so last night. He resigned himself to the fact they were over. He cursed himself for last night. He knew the moment they had started he was going to fall in love with Shawn all over again. Not that he had ever really fallen out of love. Truth be told he never stopped loving him, not even a little, but it was reopening a very deep wound that was better left alone. He got into the shower and hoped it would be a very long time before the two crossed schedualing paths again. A part of him considered resigning, making sure that hed never have to see that damn blonde again, but that was impractical. He just had to get on with his life. Somehow.  
Shawn collected his bag and apologized to Vince for the signing that went so wrong a couple days before. Actually, in Shawns mind, he didnt really think it went wrong. It couldnt have gone better, if Marty hadnt screwed things up by running away from their now fixable problems. He would have resigned his position with the WWE so he wouldnt have to face Marty again, knowing Marty obviously had the chance to start over, and didnt take the chance, but that part of Shawn that never gave up, hoped against hope they would get another chance.   
He questioned Vince about the schedual, and requested he be reschedualed so he and Marty would wrestle at the same event. Vince agreed, not caring one way or the other, as long as the card was filled.  
Now all Shawn had to do was wait patiently for the event that would again see the two of them in the same room.

Three days later, in Denver, Marty didnt so much as give Shawn one look as he rounded the corner into the locker room. Shawn had purposly stood in the hall to greet him, catch him alone away from the guys, but when Marty carelessly walked past him, seemingly not noticing him, he lost his nerve. 

An odd turn of events had occured in the days since their last meeting. Shawn had leared Marty had never been unfaithful to him. That bitter yet truthful pill was given to him by one of the guys who thought the cruel set up was funny at the time, but no longer did since marrying someone he loved himself. Shawn had done it all for no reason. The months of constant put downs, the insults, the barber shop.....it was all for nothing. He had punished Marty, who was innocent the entire time.

The blonde closed the lid of the trunk after throwing in his bag and climbed into the car. When he returned to the rental, He had some time to wait, but that was ok. He could wait. It was kinda nice just to sit, relax, and wait. Boredom wouldnt take him. Restlessness couldnt touch him. He was fine to just sit and wait.   
Six minutes later, Shawn sucked in a breath through his teeth. He was bored and restless. The parking lot was dark and desolate. Another three minutes crept past. It must have been at least an hour he had been waiting now, he figured. This was becoming ridiculous. What was this? A twenty four hour long wrestling match Marty had found himself in? Did it even have a time limit? Was Marty taking the longest post match shower of his life in there? Shawn picked at the seat, picked at the rubber that pressed the window in its grasp. He fiddled with the seatbelt until it refused to snap back into place. The blonde would deny doing that damage if asked. He concealed his deed, tucking it in the hidden compartment. It was the manufactures fault anyways. Why make seatbelts a person cant meddle with? When he was confident it wouldnt be discovered until long after the car was turned in, he futzed with the fuzz that lay over the speakers near the rear window, pulling small amounts of tufts out, than trying to push them back in. He even played the drums with his finger on the back brake light cover to the sound of no music. His fingers couldnt carry a tune. He found half a bottle of water, and, being as thirsty as he was, drank it down. He would have opened and closed the door multiple times but didnt want the dome light coming on. Instead he tinkered with the rental sticker inside the window until the corner peeled off. He tried to restick it, but the sticky part remained on the window, leaving only paper in Shawns fingers. He rolled the paper into a tiny ball and stuck it under the cars floor mat. The rental people wouldnt notice.

Marty said goodnight to a few of the guys as he exited the rear of the areana. He fished in his bag for his keys and unlocked the doors with his remote as he approached his vehicle. His feet felt like cement blocks as they carried him slowly to his car. This is how his life felt now. Dead. He was merely surviving. He waved as the last of the guys drove off, faking a smile, leaving Marty in the deserted lot. He got in the car, flipped off the radio, and started the engine, pulling away. He reached for his water bottle in his bag that sat next to him on the passenger seat and was going to drink the rest of its contents, discovering it was empty. While normally a tidy kinda guy, Marty just didnt care anymore. About anything. He flung the bottle somewhere behind him in the backseat when he heard it strike something that said "Ouch!"  
Marty nearly drove off the road from being startled.   
"You konked me in the head!" Shawn said rising up from his laying position in the backseat. Actually he was hugging the floor best he could for a man of his size. "And it took you long enough to get outta there you know. I nearly died from lack of air being couped up in here. Do you know what its like to partially suffocate to death?"   
Marty s car came to a sudden stop on the side of the on ramp. He spun around in his seat to find Shawn, rubbing his head where the empty bottle that couldnt have weighed an ounce struck him, tapping him on the head before bouncing off.   
"Ouch ouch ouch! Did it cut me?" Shawn bent his head and beared the back of his scalp to Marty to check for lacerations, gashes, or gouges. Marty didnt find any, not that he looked. Only Shawn would take advantage of an empty plastic bottle causing serious life threatning injury. Marty often wondered why a hypocondriact would get into professional wrestling as a career.   
"Shawn! What the hell are you doin back there?"  
Shawn stopped consoling his unwounded head long enough to throw Marty a dumb look.   
"Waiting for you!" he resumed tending to his injury. touching his finger to the general area he assumed got struck, than checking his finger for mass amounts of blood loss "So you could smash and bonk me in the head with a glass bottle." he complained.  
"Its plastic Shawn. And empty. And I didnt smash you with it." Marty said as Shawn pulled the gym back from the front seat to the back, than hopped in the front, stealing the bags seat next to Marty .  
"Well it hurt all the same. Is it bleeding? I think I can feel skull bone." Shawn once again turned his head to show Marty the gore that wasnt there.  
"No, not even a grazing wound. Why are you here? What are you doing and how the hell did you get in here? I had the doors locked. And YOU drank the rest of my water, didnt you?" A smile danced in Martys eyes. He felt whole again. Alive.  
Shawn sighed, his attempts for sympathy once again dashed. He didnt even get an "awe" out of it.   
"I took the liberty of stealing them out of your bag when you had your match. I just snuck them back in once I had the doors unlocked. I dont know how many times I told you to lock your bag up, but you never listen to me. So its your fault Ive hijacked you. Had you locked your shit up like Ive always said, I couldnt have done this!" Shawn gloated in being right. He took time to bask in the glory of it and celebrated victory with a proud but obnoxious toothy smile.

Marty shook his head in disbelief, his smile spreading over his face. Only Shawn would pull a stunt like this and make it seem like a completley normal thing to do.  
"Well thats one question down." Marty said.  
Shawn looked to the man next to him. "Whats the next question?"  
"What are you doing here?" Marty didnt care. He was here. Thats all that mattered. Somehow he knew everything now would just fall into place, the way it always had with them.   
"Im back!" Shawn beamed. "Back in your life! Back for good! Forever! Always! Never to leave you again!"  
Inside Martys heart lept, he opened his mouth to speak. Shawn quickly cut him off.  
"I know, I know, dont get all crazy about it and graval at my feet, or thank the heavens above for this. Although I know you probley want too and all. I mean, come on, I AM the sexiest man alive! Id be overrun with glee and joy too if I were you. But keep the commotion down for now. You can write me a poem or ode love letter later about how thankful you are that Im here again."   
Marty stared in audacity and groaned a long groan. No more restful nights, not that he slept well without Shawn. No more turning the tv off at eleven pm and going straight to sleep, right to sleep, without hours of nonsense talk from Shawn. No more silent and peaceful drives to his matches without getting lost when Shawn insisted he actually COULD read a map. No more being free of hissy fits, temper tantrums and drama filled whining when he didnt get his way, only to win in the end and grow even more spoiled. Marty was convinced no one had ever said the word "no" to Shawn in his entire life. Nope. This was all gone. GONE!   
Welcome twenty dollars spent in a gas station for one soda, being up untill four am with Shawns endless chattering on about nothing and everything at the same time. Welcome just Shawn and everything that went with him. Some tolerable, most intolerable. He was a package deal, Marty knew.   
Take him or leave him? Yeah, hed take him!   
Shawn laid a narrow box on Martys leg.   
"I got you a present" Shawn turned his way, watching Marty untie the ribbon that kept the box closed.   
"Our sticks" Marty said quietly, gently pulling them from the box, feeling a lump in his throat.  
Shawn nodded, watching Marty smile at the fact Shawn didnt leave them behind.  
"Mines bigger than yours" Marty said, grinning at Shawn.  
Shawn rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue, digging in the bag belonging to Marty that he had tossed in the back seat, pulling out the map.  
"ok, lets see, where too now? Ill navigate!"  
Marty laughed, pulling the map from Shawns hands.   
"No, ILL read the map Shawn. I like showers. And dustless beds. And...."  
"Movies with me!" Shawn smiled a toothy smile.  
"A movie with you Shawn, that sounds...." Marty turned the engine on and set the map between them. "...perfect!"  
"Hey stop at a gas station when you see one will ya. I need a soda." Shawn took back the map and strained to read it in the darkness. "Got any cash on ya?"

I guess to tolerate Shawn Michaels, and all his antics, you had to be a Marty Jannetty.

You have reached the Happy Ending that SHOULD have happened for these two.


End file.
